The Mirror
by Kausa
Summary: Roxas got a "New" mirror as a gift from his father. But what happens when the mirror causes more trouble then its worth? Akuroku, AU, Angst on many levels. The sequel you all asked for is now up! Its called "Masks".
1. A gift from Dad

**_Note:_** I really hope you all like this fan fic. This Chapter is a little bit slow, but the end of it makes up for all of it. I just need you to know all this info for later chapters. Sorry. I hate slow chapters to. Also, my proof reader didn't get to this before I uploaded it, so sorry...^_^ Grammer fails ftw right? They will be fixed later...Probably...  
GOD, this hurt _so_ much to type out. I dont think chapter two will be here as soon as I said...It hurts, a lot. :(  
(Tendonitis if your wondering)

Chapter two should be here sooner or later.....  
Enjoy!

* * *

"-individuals alternate between states of deep depression and mania. While depression is characterized by-"  
Professor Tribal, the science teacher at Twilight High was the most _boring_ teacher in the whole high school. Any student would agree. Something else all students would agree on was, _never_ get on his bad side. He wasn't the type of teacher to yell, per se, he was the one that could make you pee yourself with a glance. Yeah, _that_ teacher.  
As for students, the one face down on his desk in a puddle of his own drool would be the hero of this story. Yup, that blond-haired, blue-eyed, little miscreant was our hero. Roxas.  
Sadly for our hero, he was about to get a lesson _other _then science from Professor Tribal, "Rockas?"  
A yawn, an upward glance is all it took to see the fury in those green eyes, "O-oh Mr. Tribal…how nice to see you today…" A nervous chuckle from Roxas gave the Professor an evil smile.  
"How _nice_ of you to join us today _rockas_." Tribal always said his name wrong, "Would you mind telling myself, and the rest of your class, what it means to be Bi-Polar?"  
Roxas wiped his mouth with his sleeve. Great, drooling again.  
_'Bi-polar? Why would I ever need to know that?'  
_"U-umm…well isn't that like…crazy people doing…crazy things?" Roxas really hoped he was right on this one.  
With a sigh the Professor returned to his desk, took a pink sheet from it, wrote on it, then handed it to Roxas, "You know where to go…" As Roxas stood and gathered his stuff, the Professor whispered into his ear, "_Twenty minutes _into class and your sent out. What kind of example is that for the other children? You _are_ the oldest here right? You ought to try and sent better examples…" With another evil smile, he added, "Oh, and happy Monday."

_'Oh big deal, he's crazy anyway. I don't care about passing his class.'  
_Roxas wondered if he talked to himself to much, but before he could process that thought he caught the name on the 'time out' slip he got.  
"Vexen!? _That's _his first name!? " He burst out laughing, "What kind of name is _that!?"  
_With that he heard the Professor call, "Two weeks after school _rockas._"

Ok so 'time out', really isn't that bad. Defiantly better then Tribal's class.  
Only down side is Roxas didn't get to sleep in 'time out', but he _could _draw.  
Roxas loved drawing over any other passion.  
He once tried writing, swimming, guitar, even sports.  
He failed miserably at every one of them. Until he found drawing. Painting in particular.  
Since there was no canvas around, he drew, things he wanted to paint when he got home.  
Roxas often drew pictures of someone he sees in his dreams, and _only _in his dreams.  
His mother.  
Aeris Strife, wife to Cloud Strife, daughter of Adelbert and Rose Steiner.  
Adelbert and Rose met during the destruction of their home towns and settled in Twilight Town, where they raised a beautiful daughter, Aeris. But we are getting _far _to into another story.  
Roxas lost his mother at birth. It was much to hard on her frail body, and it ultimately killed her.

Cloud, Roxas' father, was so crushed by this, his mental condition suffered. Raising Roxas the only way he knew how, like his father raised him. Well lets put it this way, Cloud is _still_ trying to make it up to Roxas about how he treated him as a child.  
Seeing as Roxas is only fifteen, he has no source of income, so Cloud must run the household and pay all the bills.  
Which is why they live in a crappy, rundown, little apartment.  
Two bedrooms, one small bathroom, a kitchen, and a living space. That was it.  
Its _much_ smaller then it sounds.

So back to 'time out'.  
Sitting with Roxas was a boy he liked to call his 'best friend'. Yeah, because we all know 'best friends' beat your lunch money out of you and spread nasty rumors behind your back. Real friendly, no?  
Roxas was shy and seeing as this boy was the only one to ever talk to him, regardless it was mostly demands of him doing this or giving him that, he dubbed him his 'best friend'.  
Hayner Orunitia.  
Brown hair, brown eyes, cameo clothing. Average bully.  
Roxas didn't see it that way. He was always picked on, at least this one was consistent. So that makes him your friend. And if you only have one friend, they have to be the best…Right?

"Hey, Rocky, give me some lunch money, I left mine at home." Hayner persisted.  
Letting out a deep sigh, not looking up from his paper, Roxas informed, "If I give it to you, I wont get to eat. Dad says I'm to skinny anyway. He wont be happy knowing I gave away all the hard earned money he…earned…"

"_NO _talking Roxas! You to Hayner!" Screamed the ever so eloquent Larxene Carol, the 'time out lady', as she was called. No one knew what her _real _job was but…No one wanted to ask either. She was scary.

Lowering his voice, Hayner smiled, "Then don't tell him you gave it away. Just lie. Its not that bad. I do it all the time."  
Roxas finally looked up from his paper, "Is it any wonder you in 'time out' all the time? Maybe you need to get better at lying before you preach it to someone else."

"_OKAY_ that's it!" Mrs. Carol stomped over between the Roxas' and Hayner's desks, "What is _soooo_ important, you just _have_ to talk about it right now?"

Roxas spoke in barely a whisper, "He's trying to take my lunch money again…"

Slamming her hands on the desk, Larxene barked, "Well be a man and say no! Now _STOP TALKING._" She returned to her romance book and desk.

No one knew why she liked her romance books so much. Or why she was _Mrs. _Carol, seeing as she wasn't, and has never been married.

'_Psychos…schools full of them'  
_Roxas laughed as his own thoughts, receiving another glare from Mrs. Carol.

After three more classes, Roxas headed for lunch, his least favorite part of the day, after waking up of course.  
Quickly he bought lunch, making sure it was something Hayner hated so he wouldn't take it, and sat down at a table far from everyone.  
As he began to eat, a blond girl with blue eyes and a girl with blue eyes and dark red-brown hair sat with him.  
The blond spoke, "Would you mind leaving? Me and Kairi want to eat here."  
Looking up in shock, Roxas couldn't believe someone talked to him, "I..I can't eat with you?"  
The girls shook their heads in unison, and Roxas left.

Finding an empty area in the court yard, Roxas sat under a tree for shade and ate in peace.  
Sure he liked company sometimes, but most of the time he liked being lonely.  
Wait, _can _you like being lonely? Someone should look into that…

'_I should really come here more often. Its nice. I like the shade.'_Second favorite time of the day. Going home. Roxas didn't really like walking by himself a mile to his apartment, but he didn't have to be in school anymore. Bittersweet. At least that's what he thought. Returning home today wouldn't be as great as every other day but, that my friend, is far to ahead of our story.

Room 13, floor B. This was his lovely little abode. Cramped, messy, with a slight smell of mold in the air, yeah, it was his house alright. Clouds not the best housekeeper.

Roxas dropped his bag onto the floor, and plopped himself onto the couch. Another thing that smelled like mold. Well more like mildew. He wasn't sure really, he had better things to do then to try and figure out the difference between mold and mildew.  
More like he would like to _think_ he had better things to do. He didn't.

"Oh _Roxas!_ Daddy has a surprise for you!!" Cloud called from his bed room.

_'Oh boy, new socks…'_

"Ta-da!" Cloud pulled out a full length, puke green, musty old mirror, "I got it for your room! I'm going to go and put it in there right away!"  
And he was off.

Talking to himself, as he does most of the day, Roxas cringed, "A…Mirror? WHY? Ugh, he hates me, I know it…Don't we have better things to use that munn-"  
"Come here Roxas!! Come look!! Quick!!"  
Rising to his feet, slower then 'quick' as his dad implied, Roxas made his way into his bedroom, only to see the puke green mirror hung next to his bed.  
"See?" Cloud showed off his hard work, "This way you can see your pretty little self the first thing you wake up!"  
He threw a rag and some cleaning stuff at Roxas, "Now, clean it off and lets have a look how nice it makes everything!"

As Cloud left, Roxas sighed and began to clean.

_'Yeah, I wanna see myself in this thing everyday, first thing…He must be as crazy as-'  
"Vexen?"  
_"What?" Roxas spoke aloud, "Did…Did the voice in my head just finish my sentence for me? That's new…"  
Still cleaning, Roxas dismissed it as the fumes. Nothing more. He wasn't crazy.  
Was he?

"There! All done." Smiling at his own work, Roxas called to his father, "Hey dad! I'm done! It doesn't look half bad either!!"

Cloud promptly rushed in, grabbed his son and pulled him in for a hug, in front of the new, now clean, mirror.

Roxas stared into the reflection, wearily he asked, "Dad…Where did you get this anyway?"  
Cloud smiled even bigger, "Garage sale, free! Can you believe it!? I knew how much you wanted one and-"  
Roxas stopped listening to his father, he stared vividly into the mirror.

_'Have my eyes always had a tint of green?'

* * *

_

**_More notes:_** I know what your thinking, _'oh no, scary green eyes'_. Just wait. ;) You will see.  
Anyway please review!! It would make me soooo happy. ^_^ And you wanna make me happy don't you? Please and thank you!


	2. Wine and Green Slime

Note: Sorry this took so long to write, today was the first day my wrist has not hurt so much, plus I was at my friends house all weekend.  
Anyway I really hope you like this chapter...Im sorry its not interesting yet XD It will be soon, I pwomise!!  
So yea...Enjoy ^_^

* * *

Taking a long look into the bathroom mirror, Roxas noted that yes, his eyes were still just as blue as they always have been. A brilliant, deep, ocean kind of blue.

So why were they hinted with a green in his bedroom mirror? Maybe it was just dirty. Yeah, that was it.

"Dad?", Roxas called into the living room, "Dad! Where's the Windex?"  
No reply.

_'Probably drinking again…Sigh, I guess a green film over my mirror isn't that big of a deal.'_

Returning to his room, Roxas realized it was getting late, he should be going to bed soon.  
Tomorrow was Tuesday, that meant one thing.  
Science test.

_'And of COURSE, I just had to miss today's review…'  
_Laying himself down, he let out a sad sigh. Tomorrow would not be fun. He hated Vexen's class with a passion, almost as much has Vexen hated him.

_'Why does he have to call me 'Rockas" anyway? He knows my real name, he used it the first day…'  
_Roxas closed his eyes, for some reason he couldn't get that image from the mirror out of his head.  
Maybe he was seeing things, maybe he should look again.

_'Wait…there is no way I could have mistaken that, I was staring at it long enough….'  
_Even though his mind disagreed, he got up and took a second look.

Blond spiky hair, somewhat round face, the same small nose his dad had, black and white pajamas, everything was still the same. Except…

His eyes were even _more_ green.  
They reminded him of that kid at school, with the silver hair. He couldn't remember his name, but he always remembered those eyes.  
Those sea green-blue eyes that would stare into your soul, see your true heart, then tear it out in a second.  
Those eyes that could convey pure happiness and love, as they did when he was around Sora, or those eyes that could show such hate and such passion for sadism, as they did when he was around anyone _but_ Sora.

How could everything else say the same color, but his eyes change? This couldn't just be a green film…

_"Slime? I am NOT covered in green slime…"  
_"What?" Roxas took a quick startled glance around the room. Alone.  
"W-who said that…?"

Maybe he was going crazy.

That night his dreams shook him to the very core of his being.  
There he was in a room just like his, only covered in green slime. Almost like ectoplasm, but since Roxas had never seen ectoplasm, he guessed slime was a better word.  
Only Roxas was perfectly clean, as was the mirror.  
Something else that stuck him as odd was that the mirror 's frame wasn't its 'puke green' color that it was when he fell asleep. It was a flame like red. Looking at the color made Roxas' heart sink.  
Well at first it was his heart. Looking down he saw it was his whole body, sinking in slime.  
Struggling to get free he remembered that show he watched on discovery channel, about how to survive in the jungle. He never thought he would _go_ to the jungle, but it was good to know.  
Mostly he thought about how to get out of quick sand.  
The key point of which he remembered was, _don't struggle.  
_So he took a deep breath and let whatever happens, happen.  
Soon he sunk past his neck, and the room went completely and utterly, black.

"ROXAS!!" Cloud screamed into Roxas' ear as he shook him with an oddly great force.  
Finally coming to, Roxas jumped, then screamed himself, "What are you doing trying to give me a heart attack?!"

Letting out a sigh of relief, Cloud sat on his sons bed in worry, "Its noon. I've been shaking you for five minutes now, I just noticed you overslept."  
"NOON!? I missed my science test! Tribal's going to kill me for sure!" Roxas groaned as he fell back into his bed.  
Cloud patted his sons' leg, "I called you in sick. You need to stop stressing out so much so I thought…You might like a day off, then I got worried you really _were_ sick because you weren't waking up…"  
Roxas didn't look up as he told his father, "I'm not sick, I was having a bad dream…"

Nodding, Cloud agreed, "I hope so, I didn't think you would cry in your sleep for any other reason..."

Cry? He was crying? He _did_ feel empty, and it _did_ feel like he had been crying.  
Why? Why have he been crying? The dream?

All he could remember from it was the blackness, the never ending blackness. Was this was absolute despair felt like?

Roxas was glad he got to stay home today, maybe he really _was_ sick…

The rest of the day Roxas lounged on the couch reading "I Want To Be Your Canary", by some Avon guy.  
It was his favorite book, he had read it hundreds of times over. He knew every line by heart, yet every time he read it, it was like some new adventure.  
He also munched on his favorite food, pickle flavored potato chips, or as he called them, Pickle Chips.  
His father Cloud thought these were the most disgusting things on the face of this planet.  
Oh well, more for Roxas.

The sun began to set at seven that night, Roxas had finished his book and passed out with it laying on his chest.  
His father decided to let him sleep, he looked like he was having a good dream.

Indeed, he _was_ having a good dream; he dreamt he was in his favorite book, that _he_ was Marcus, that _he _was in love with Cornelia.

Dreams like this brought joy to his otherwise sad life.  
He wanted to badly to really be in love, but no one at school really liked him.  
So he sought solace in his dreams, where he could love and have it be returned.  
Where no one cared if he was popular, they loved him for himself.  
Where no one teased and joked because Roxas had never had his first kiss.  
Where the tortures of school were escaped and everyone was happy with themselves.  
That was how Roxas wished the world was, regardless how corny.

He didn't even care if that meant he would be in love with the daughter of his enemy.

Awaking from his nap at nine that night, Roxas let out a long needed yawn, then headed for the fridge.  
Sadly, he devoured all the Pickle Chips a few hours prior.  
"Nothing" He stated as he closed the door, "Besides, its bed time."

As he turned toward his room, he saw an empty wine bottle on the ground; while picking it up he saw a few drops on the carpet, then another bottle about ten feet to his left.  
He followed the various drops and bottles to his fathers room, picking up three empty bottles on the way and a final one that was laying half drunk in his fathers hand.  
His father, asleep and drooling. He was so proud of his gene pool right now.

He let out a sigh, taking the bottle from his fathers hand to return it to the kitchen.

_'Why was this stuff so amazing? I wonder…'_

Stopping half way there, he looked at the bottle, puzzled.  
Until he took a sip.  
Then another.  
Then a gulp, this one burned his throat.

"Ugh, that's nasty…" He declared, taking another swig.

Finishing the rest of the bottle, Roxas left it on the floor, like his father, then stumbled into his room.

His first taste of alcohol, he was only fifteen, his mother must be _ecstatic _up in heaven right now.

Falling onto his bed, Roxas slept face down on his bed, no cover on, in the same clothes he wore all day.  
That night, his dreams let him be alone for once, to think about what he did.

The morning came with a headache and regret, Roxas guessed this was how every morning his father went through must be like.

He stumbled in his morning routine, then off to school, where the headache just grew and grew.  
Mostly in Professor Tribal's class.

"Where were you yesterday _Rockas_?" Tribal asked with his sinister voice, "You know you must come at lunch, to make up that test."  
He knew, which upset him more then anything.  
Those bastards taking away his lunch, his only peace in the day.

Roxas kept quiet the rest of the day, he nary said a word besides when Tribal would ask him the answer to some dumb question that he already knew. This class would be so much more interesting if he ever learned

More classes, and he was still silent, no one really cared, he was always silent, at least he had a reason this time.  
Not like anyone knew that.

Lunch lurked around the corner, like a vampire, waiting to prey on Roxas' happiness.  
Or what was left of it.

When the bell rang for lunch, Roxas made his way slowly to Tribal's class, sat in his normal seat and waited for the teacher to return. He guessed he was getting lunch before coming back.

Half of lunch passed before Tribal returned, shocked to see Roxas in his desk, "Early for tomorrow Roxas?"

_'He called me by my name, my NAME!'  
_  
"What sir?" Roxas gawked at him.  
"Why are you here, I asked." Tribal sat at his desk, folded his hands and waited for Roxas to reply.  
"Well…I missed our Tuesday test yesterday so…" Tribal held a hand up to stop Roxas from talking.  
"There was no test. We skipped it, the class begged me and I gave in."

This was almost as shocking that Tribal remembered his name, "What?! You never skip those tests!"  
"The class had a good argument."  
"What was it?" Roxas had stood up and began to collect his things.

A laugh from Tribal sent shivers down his spine, "If I make my tests predicable, then no one will listen the rest of the week, then just study all Monday night. If I make them random, then they have to listen and study all night." He winked, then waved his hand at the door, "Please, go eat your lunch."

That was definately the weirdest thing that Roxas had heard from that teacher. Why would he just change his schedule like that? He was planning something.  
Then it came to him.  
Tribal told him that he had to come in at lunch, then he wasn't there until the end.

"He…tricked me…" Roxas was talking to himself as he walked to his next class, "He wanted me to miss my lunch because I missed his class…"

_'That sneaking little bastard.'  
_The rest of his classes were filled with Roxas thinking to himself, as was his walk home.

Once he arrived home he saw his father passed out on the couch, snoring louder than usual.  
Roxas wondered when he had gotten drunk today, seeing as it was only two thirty.

Throwing his bag on his floor, Roxas caught himself in the mirror.  
"What the hell now?"

His eyes had become a light, piercing green, and his hair seemed a bit more dark, with red highlights.

_"You really shouldn't swear so much, you will never win me over that way."_

_

* * *

_

Even MORE note: XD Im such a retard...  
So yea, one of my best friends, kiddy, is cosplaying as Roxas for sakura con this year, so I wanted to make his favorite food one of hers. ^_^  
I dont really mind Pickle chips but...well they aren't as amazing as Roxas/Kiddy think they are...

So yea, chapter three should be soon, depending if my wrist is going to start hating me again...Then it might be a few days.  
Review please! It makes writing so much more fun when you know your readers have an opinion.

Note about Roxas' second dream/book: If you want to know what is going on, go here to final fantasy wiki, then search "I want to be your canary".


	3. Fire

Note: Okay I lied, this was really soon to upload a chapter, but I stayed home today and I had an idea so...^_^ Chapter.  
Umm Well I hope you like this, I liked writing it.

I wanted to thank everyone that alerted, faved, and reviewed. You all make writing worth it. Thanks so much and please, enjoy!

* * *

"Who said that?" Roxas took a look around his room again, then back at himself in the mirror.  
Red hair? No one in his family had red hair, at least what he knew of.

He shook it off, "I'm just tired from school, I'm seeing things…"  
As he turned toward the bathroom to change out of his school clothes, he swore he heard someone laugh at him…

Roxas didn't dream that night, and everything was normal the next day.  
Tribal was being a prick.  
The kids at school picked on him.  
He sat by himself at lunch.  
Everything was normal, until fifth period.

Fifth period is Mr. Crescent's class, and Roxas' elective, Astrology.  
Mr. Crescent had blue hair and really strange eyes. He also had an odd fascination with claymores, these big sword things…  
It was by far his favorite class of the day. Roxas always loved learning about stars and such.  
He also sat next to that boy with the sliver hair and sea-like eyes.  
Roxas knew that this boy was taken but, he couldn't help loving those eyes.

Something else Roxas couldn't help but stare at was the red stain on the sleeve of his arm.  
It looked like blood seeping through his white sleeve, but why would this boy be bleeding there?  
In fact, it looked fresh, wet, like it happened not even an hour ago.

"Can I _help_ you kid?" The silver haired boy glared at Roxas, those eyes piercing into his soul, ready to rip it out at a moments notice.  
_'Better not give him the wrong answer…'_  
Roxas cleared his throat, "Oh well…um…I wanted to know why your sleeve is red?"

The boy quickly looked down, then covered his arm with his hand.  
Bolting up from his seat, he exited the room without a word.

Roxas was even _more_ puzzled then before.

"Nice going Rocky, scared off another one you fag." Hayner hit Roxas in the arm, he sat behind him in this class. It seemed like a playful hit, but then again Roxas thought Hayner just liked to hit people.

_'Fag? Look who's talking Hayner…'_

Mr. Crescent was to busy calling security on the silver haired boy to notice Hayner's insults and punches.

"Hayner…Why was his arm red?" Roxas turned around in his seat to ask him.

Hayner scoffed at him, "Duh, he's an emo little fag like you Rocky."  
"_Please_, don't call me Rocky, and what do you mean, 'emo'?" Roxas looked back to make the teacher was still on the phone, he was.  
"God, _Rocky_, were you raised in a cave or something?" Hayner put quite a lot of emphases on 'Rocky'.  
Roxas hushed his voice, "Just tell me Hayner, and _stop_ calling me Rocky."

Sighing, Hayner agreed, "Fine, but you make teasing you so not fun…Emo is those little freaks that wear their hair in their eyes, cut themselves, and listen to crappy music…" Hayner thought for a second, "Like you."

The next class and his walk home were riddled with unanswered questions.  
_'Cutting himself? Why would he do that…that can't feel good…'_Storming in the front door Roxas threw his bag on the floor. He was angry that Hayner would say those things.  
He didn't cut himself, he liked his music, and so what if he wore his hair like that?  
Why was it any of _his_ business how he ran his life?

'Why does Hayner think I'm emo? I don't…'

'Forget him, I like my music!'

"Welllllcome home little boy!" His father slurred from the couch. Drunk again before three.  
Twice in one week? This was a new record.

Slamming his door open, Roxas kicked the closest thing to him, a pillow on the ground.  
It hit his new mirror, which caught Roxas' attention.  
Roxas was back to normal; blue eyes, blond hair.  
The frame on the other hand, that was a complete different story.  
It wasn't the puke-green it had been for the past few days, it was the deep, flame red it had been in his dream.

Staring at it in disbelief, Roxas was frozen.  
Oh so first his image, now the frame?

Shaking his head, Roxas sighed, "I bet dad painted it, he knows how I like red…"  
He was ok with that answer, and he quickly went back to being terribly mad at himself and his life.

After a quick change out of his school clothes, Roxas sat on his bed, pondering about life.  
_'Cutting himself? Emo? Fag? When did all this happen?'  
_  
That's when he saw it, his Exacto-Knife, the one he had been using to cut out pieces of paper for an art project. It was clean, shiny, and most importantly, sharp.

Standing up, his heart racfed a thousands beats a minute, was he really going to do this?

The knife felt cold in his hand, for some reason he thought it would feel warm and comforting.  
Rolling up his sleeve, everything that had happened that year, the teasing, his grades, his father, and this mirror, they all came flooding back to him.  
He laid his arm on the bed, then opened the Exacto-Knife with his teeth.

Placing the cold, steel blade on his forearm, he thought about Hayner's words today.  
_"Emo is those little freaks that wear their hair in their eyes, cut themselves, and listen to crappy music…Like you"  
_Roxas pushed with minimal pressure.  
_"Duh, he's an emo little fag like you Rocky."  
_Then a little harder.  
_"Nice going Rocky, scared off another one you fag." _

Finally, Roxas slid the blade across his arm. Blood pricked his open cut, sliding how his arm, onto his bedspread.  
The scarlet blood make his skin look much more pale then usual.  
Roxas stared at his injury with pure wonderment.  
Then, the pain.  
The _pain._

Why did people do this!? This _hurt_!  
Roxas picked up his forearm and began to suck on the cut, to stop the bleeding.  
What had he just done?

Quickly he ran to the bathroom, his mouth still around the cut.  
After he cleaned it off, and bandaged it up, he looked at it.

_'That…hurt…Why does that boy do that? Does he like pain or something?'_

Roxas thought about this all the way back to his room.

Laying on his bed that night, Roxas stared at his white ceiling. His room was so plain.

_'What if dad finds out? What do I tell him?'  
"That you cut yourself because people tease you."  
'That's a bad answer…He doesn't care about the teasing, he says I need to 'grow a backbone', or something like that…'  
"That's not very nice, he should be more supportive. I am."  
'Well you have to be, your in my head.'  
"In your head? Roxie, I can promise you this, I am NOT in your head."  
_  
Roxas sprung up, "Ok fine, if you aren't in my head, where are you?"  
He awaited the reply.  
Nothing.

Laying back down, he was sure his mind was playing tricks on him, maybe to much blood loss.

The next day as he got ready for school, all he could do was stare at his cut.  
Same way in his first few classes, he stared at his sleeve.

Then lunch, he sat under his tree, as he eat he kept glancing back at his sleeve, making sure it didn't do what that boys did, and bleed through.  
It was done bleeding, quite awhile ago in fact, he didn't know why he couldn't look away.

Finally it reached fifth period, the class he had been waiting for all day. He needed to talk to that boy.

Tapping him on the shoulder, Roxas whispered, "We need to talk…"  
The boy looked at him through the corner of his eye, then passed him a note that read:

_If you __EVER __say something like you said yesterday in class again, I will personally rip out your heart, and eat it in front of you while you die a SLOW, PAINFUL, death._

Okay, that wasn't scary or anything. So Roxas wrote back:

_I didn't mean to embarrass you. I am SO sorry. Could we please be friends?  
If it makes you feel any better, I cut myself to last night.  
That way you know a secret about me, and I know one about you.  
So…Friends?_The reply:

_You cut yourself? For what reason? To spite me?_Roxas let out a sigh as he read it, then looked at the boy before writing back:

_It had nothing to do with you. I just told you so you could have one of my secrets…  
I want us to be friends. You seem nice, and you have very pretty eyes. __  
Besides it would be nice to have someone to talk to about everything…_The boy read the note, thought for a few seconds, then crumpled it up and threw it at the recycling.  
He did _not_ want to be Roxas' friend, obviously.

The walk home was a nightmare.  
It was hailing, hard, and Roxas had nothing to shield his head.

Running as he got to his apartment building, Roxas slammed the door open to find his father, in his boxers, in the kitchen, making eggs.  
"Breakfast?" He inquired.  
Roxas was dumbfounded, "Breakfast? I just got home from _school…_Its like two thirty something…Shouldn't you be making lunch?"  
Cloud shook his head with a smile, "Nope, I just woke up, So this is breakfast."  
Roxas thought for a second, "Why haven't you been at work lately?"  
"Fired." Cloud sounded way to chipper, then Roxas noticed the empty vodka bottles on the table next to the oven.  
"What?! When!? Why aren't you looking for a new job? We…We're going to lose the house…"  
Cloud set down his spatula, "No on in their right mind would hire a drunkard like me…"  
He finally sounded sad, remorseful.

That was all Roxas needed, he went into his room, set down his bag, laid on his bed, and sobbed.  
_"Don't cry, Roxie…Please don't cry."  
_Roxas lifted up his head and looked at his mirror, his eyes were green again, and his hair was the same color as the frame, a flame red.

With a sniffle, he asked, "Why…Why are you doing this to me?" He put his head back down, "Why god?"

* * *

Notes ay?: Okay if you didnt notice, Mr. Creasent is Saix.  
XD god so much angst. And DONT worry, Roxas wont cut himself anymore, but he had to try it, ya know?

I feel bad for Roxas, my fathers an alcoholic but no where NEAR as bad as cloud is.

Well chapter four should be up soon, and please, PLEASE, reviews!!!


	4. Growth spurt

Note: Gah I love this story XD I dont know why and I know its very self centered by I have never liked any of my own art before, drawing or anything.  
Anyway...Yea, enjoy. ^_^

By the way: 12 alerts! And only 3 chapters prior!!  
My last story, with 10 chaps. had only 3 alerts! Im proud. ^_^

* * *

Roxas didn't know what to do.  
He felt like he was losing his mind, alonfg with his house.  
A few more sniffles, and Roxas sat up on his bed, dried his eyes and looked into his mirror.  
Then down at his arm, the wound covered by a sleeve, he felt such remorse and sorrow.

_'Me and dad are about to lose everything, and I did THIS because some kids pick on me and beat me up?'  
"Those children are mean to you, they always have been. Its not your fault Roxie, everyone breaks sooner or later."  
'Those kids are my friends…they are just joking.'  
"Friends?! How in gods name are they your FRIENDS?"  
'They talk to me…'  
"I talk to you to, does that make us friends?"  
'Your in my head, I don't care what you say, You are IN MY HEAD'  
"Really? Am I?"  
'Where else would you be?'  
"Just wait Roxie…A few more days is all I need…"  
'What do you mean?'_Nothing, no reply.  
Roxas was sure, he was going crazy.  
Luckily, it was Friday night, and that meant he could relax finally.

And _how_ did one like Roxas relax?  
The only way he knew how; Pickle Chips and a nice warm bath.

Roxas laid his head on the corner of the tub, the curtain closed incase his intoxicated father barged in at a moments notice.  
He wouldn't be to happy to see Roxas eating in the tub.

_'I don't get it, maybe I am crazy…' _Roxas thought to himself as he ate his chips, straight from the bag, he always said they tasted better that way.  
_'I mean, not only do I talk to myself, when I do it in my room, a different voice answers…'  
_Roxas sat up, then leaned forward so his chin rested on the other side of the tub.  
_'And that voice…its so comforting, soft, and…beautiful.'  
_He closed his eyes, thinking about that voice, but never once that he was crazy.  
Which one good, he really ought to stop saying that to himself.

Somehow time passed him by, and when his 'family' sized bag of Pickle Chips was gone, it had been two hours, the water was like ice, and his skin was a prune.  
The idea of prunes mixing with Pickle Chips and ice made Roxas a little sick to his stomach.

Drying himself off in front of his bathroom mirror, Roxas took a look at himself, standing there in his checkered, black and white boxers.  
He was handsome. Why did kids pick on him? And _why_ was it so hard for him to get a date?  
He hadn't even had his first kiss yet, he knew guys much worse looking then himself with girlfriends.

Shrugging and decided it wasn't important, Roxas pulled on his pajamas, then off to bed.

_"Wow, I thought you drowned or something."  
_  
Shaking his head, Roxas looked into his mirror. He had grown to love that red color the frame was.  
He also began to consider dying his hair the red it was in this reflection, it was growing on him.  
_'Sorry, I needed some time to think things through.'  
"Well don't worry me so much, I need you, you know?"  
'Why do you need me? If anything, I need you. I need SOMEONE to talk to ya' know?' _  
Roxas stretched out on his bed, then kept thinking._  
'Besides, I'm still not convinced your not in my head.'  
"I told you! Just wait! Give me a few more days Roxie!"  
'Why do you call me that?'  
"What? Roxie? Its better then 'Rocky' or 'Rockas', isn't it?"  
'Yea I know but…No ones called me that since…' _A pause, this was not something Roxas wanted to think about again.  
He rolled away from the mirror, and stopped all thought.  
_"Just because you don't think, doesn't mean I cant still talk to you, you just wont reply."  
_Roxas was pretending not to listen, but then it came to his attention, can you not listen to the voice in your head? Weren't they always there?  
_"Your mother."  
_Roxas froze.  
_'Don't…Please just…'  
"Don't bring her up? What's wrong, Roxie, I thought you were ignoring me."  
'Please…Just shut up…'  
"Why? You aren't listening anyway, remember? What difference does it make?"  
'If I knew…If I just KNEW where that voice was coming from I'd-'  
"What? Stop me? No can do, I may not live in your head, but I'm in it now…"_Roxas didn't hear anymore voices that night, but his nightmare was bad enough to make up for it.  
He was in a big house, a mansion almost, looking for someone.  
Then he found her.  
His mother. Her sweet brown hair, her soft green eyes, her round face like Roxas'.  
Everything was as perfect and beautiful as the day she died, giving birth.  
Everything except, her posture.  
Well maybe not that but, Roxas couldn't put his finger on it.  
"M-mom?" His eyes began to water, as he ran toward the mother he only saw in dreams.  
Her kind smiling eyes looked at Roxas.  
For a spilt second, he was happier then he had ever been, he got his mother back, their family would finally be whole.  
Then, his happiness turned sour as his mothers eyes darkened into a deep black.  
Her smile curled into a devilish grin.  
Her hands, once soft and petite, stretched and sharpened into eagle like talons.

"Roxie, my baby boy…" Her voice was an empty shell, "Roxie, come here." She curled one of her talons at Roxas, beckoning him.

And he could do nothing but follow.  
The closer he got to her, the more dark and evil she became.  
Until he was in her grasp, and she was the devil himself.

"Roxie, I missed you so much, do you…Do you know why I passed, Roxie?" She whispered into his ear, her voice like a thick poison.  
He shook his head, and she replied, "You. You killed me you selfish little bastard. How could you? I had a whole life ahead of me, I had plans and dreams and you…_you_ took them from me." Her 'hug' tightened.  
Roxas was having trouble breathing, but part of him was warmed by having a mother again.  
"_You, _you did this to me, Roxie." She spat at him with every word, her saliva burning his skin.  
Roxas didn't know how to handle this, so he began to sob.  
"You fucking crybaby. Stop that!" She loosened her grip only to shake him vigorously.  
Soon everything went black, and Roxas could feel teeth burrowing into the flesh of his arm.

Waking in a fright, Roxas was sweating more then he knew he could in his sleep.  
"What…The fuck was that!?" He screamed at his empty room. Alone, and alive. No demon mother in sight.

_"For the last time, I told you to quit swearing, I don't think its very gentleman like."  
_"Your doing this, aren't you?!" Roxas again screamed at the emptiness of his room.  
He better quiet down, less he want to awaken his father.

He let out a sigh, "That's it! I'm crazy…"

As soon as his feet hit the floor he knew, something was wrong. His room, wasn't his room.  
His floor was covered in slime again, wait no…  
"Jell-O?…Red Jell-O?"  
A burst of laughter from nowhere, _"And I thought I was dense!"  
_  
Laying back in his bed, he didn't know what to think of this. Taste it? He did like Jell-O…  
_"Don't! It…Its poison."  
'Poison?'  
"Well…maybe, I don't know what it is. You know your-"_

"Dreaming still Roxas!?" His father shook him awake, "And what the hell did you do to your arm?"  
His arm? Oh no.

"Oh its…just a scratch, I'm fine." Roxas lied far to well for his own good.  
A disarming gleam in his fathers eye, but then, trust, "Ok, well come out for lunch soon, got it?"  
Lunch?  
Yup, lunch, the clock said one fifteen. Talk about over sleeping.

Once his father left, Roxas took a look at his arm, he was wearing sleeves, how did he see-  
"Oh my god…" Roxas covered his mouth with his right hand, seeing as it was the uninjured one.  
Where yesterday was a small cut from an Exacto-Knife, today was a giant gash, you could practically see the bone.  
"Did…Did she do this?" Roxas asked his gash.  
_"Yes, she did. I guess you need to learn to be less trusting."  
_"Yea, I got that, and I'm starting with _you._" Roxas kept talking to the gash, because he didn't knew where else to talk to.

Dressing his new wound, he couldn't even fathom how this could have happened. Dreams cant hurt the real you, could they?  
And why was the voice in his head messing with him so much?  
Why did he have so many unanswered questions?

"I need a therapist." He stated to himself as he stared into his bathroom mirror, "I am seriously, going fucking crazy here…"

It was Saturday, so that meant one thing to Roxas, Cartoons!  
Yeah, when he was six.  
At fifteen, it meant a lot of skateboarding.

Pushing off, he glided down the sidewalk. This was something else he did to calm himself down, when the bath was commandeered by his dearest, intoxicated Father.  
As he glided past the 7-11 store that sold his favorite ice cream, Roxas tried to clear his head.  
"This cant be happening…I must be crazy…" He told himself as he came to a stop.  
"Yup, you are. Only the 'crazies' talk to themselves." It was Hayner. Oh boy.  
A small punch in the arm, Hayner asked him, "What the hell did you do to your arm? Cut a bit to deep last night? What's wrong, mommy doesn't love you anymore?" Hayner was using his 'baby talk' voice, he always did when talking about Roxas' mom, he didn't know the truth. No one did.  
Roxas fell silent, then without looking at Hayner, "I…Yea, I did."

"Ohhhh Just wait till I tell the consoler at school! You'll be the same boat as that fag Riku!"  
Riku? Riku was his name? Roxas would have to remember that.  
With that last insult, Hayner rode off on Roxas' skateboard.  
He had no idea how Hayner got it from him.

Walking into the store, he glanced back down at his arm. Blood. A lot of it.  
How was it still bleeding through all the dressings?  
How did he not notice it?

Placing his sea-salt ice cream on the counter, the cashier, a blond like Roxas, only with a Mohawk/Mullet kind of hair style, stated, "That's a dollar fifty."  
Roxas laid two bills on the counter, and told him to keep the change.  
The cashier didn't even look up from his magazine about something called a "Sitar", to take his money, he just slid it into his pocket.  
_'Isn't that stealing?' _Roxas thought to himself as he began his walk home.

His ice cream was gone before he arrived home, luckily or Cloud might have taken it.

"So this was a nice lazy Saturday." Roxas Yawned opening the door to his room.  
All he did when he got home was play his PlayStation. It was pretty late, but he had no idea the time.  
"I better get going to be-Oh god…Not again" He groaned.  
Another look in the mirror.

This time, besides his red hair and green eyes, he noticed he was about a foot taller.

* * *

Omg Notes: ^_^ So I hoped you all liked that and chapter five is coming soon.  
Something else that is coming soon: My sora necklace!!!  
Yup im gonna be cosplaying as riku with a sora necklace XD I R speical person.

PLEASE review and favorite. ^_^

**Where did Roxas get more chips?** The maigcal Chip fairy of course!! XD no, his dad bought them or something...


	5. Rainbow puke

Note: XD Gah I produce these fast huh? Well...Hmm I dont know what to say. By the way, in the last chapter is was _not_ Jell-O, that was Roxas being speical. All your reviews and alerts and favs are making me so happy, thanks everyone.  
Enjoy!

**WARNING:** I was in a good mood when I wrote this...O.o be warned...

* * *

Roxas did always want to be taller.f  
Then again, this was not what he wished for, he wanted everyone to see him be taller, not just in one mirror.

Roxas looked straight into the mirror, it was finally all coming together, "You."  
_"Me!"_  
"I am being serious here…Its you isn't it?"  
_"Yup…wait what did I do this time?"  
_"Your the one talking to me…You're the one sending the bad dreams…"  
_"God, first the 'Red Jell-o', now this? Whoa, you really are more dense then I thought!"  
_"What do you mean?"  
_"How did you not figure it out until now?"  
_Roxas looked as his feet, then back into the mirror, "I guess…I wanted to seem crazy?"  
_"You're a nice kid Roxie, why do you want to seem crazy?"  
_"Its just…an easier way to explain my life I guess…"  
The voice from the mirror was softer then normal, it lacked its sick sarcasm, _"Go to bed Roxie, you have a long day ahead of you tomorrow."_

Roxas found joy that night, in the form of a dream.  
He was in a field of flowers, all yellow daises, Cloud told him they were his mothers favorites.  
Sitting by himself, under the shade of a tree, Roxas watched the flowers blow in the breeze, he hadn't felt this at peace in years.  
But along with this peace, was an underlying sadness.  
It was in the field of his mothers favorite flowers that life became clear to Roxas.  
He would _always_ have an alcoholic father.  
He would _always _be teased, with few to no friends.  
He can _never_ erase his troubled past.  
But there were many things he _could _do.  
Roxas _could_ get a job, and help keep the house, he was almost old enough.  
He_ could_ ignore the teasing, then try to make friends with some kids like himself.  
And he _could _forgive Cloud for all his mistakes and hope Cloud forgives him for his.

Once Roxas realized all this, he woke up, softly. Roxas never woke up softly, it was always being ripped out of a nightmare or his father waking him for school.  
With a yawn, Roxas stared into his white ceiling. He's always hated it being white, maybe today he would do something about it.  
He knew, he needed to take charge of his life, or at least try.  
_"Blue, light blue…"_  
Still laying on his bed, watching his white ceiling, Roxas asked, "Why blue?"  
_"Well, it will match those pretty eyes of yours nicely and if you paint some white blobs on it, you can always have a nice day."  
_"I don't follow you."  
_"Blue skies, a few clouds, all the time. You would never be brought down by the weather outside."_  
"But sometimes I like the rain, besides rain brings flowers, without water we would all die, like the daises…."  
_"You don't need to be watered in your room do you?"  
_Roxas chuckled, maybe making a friend was easier then he thought it would be.

Brushing his teeth with his bright purple toothbrush, Roxas peered into his reflection in his bathroom mirror.  
Honestly, he was beginning to like his other reflection better.  
_'If I'm going to talk to him…and I know I'm not crazy, maybe I should ask him his name…'_

Pulling on khaki shorts and a black shirt, Roxas always matched his clothes this well, he walked into his living room, to find his father making breakfast.  
What time was it?

"Morning sunshine!" Cloud waved at Roxas with his spatula.  
The clock on the stove read nine twenty seven. Morning.

Taking a seat at the counter, Roxas watched his father flip eggs and bacon, "Dad…are you…"  
"Sober? Yes I am!"  
A smile, maybe that dream mean something after all, "I'm proud, any reason why?"  
Cloud let out a happy nod, "Yup!" Then he looked back down at his eyes, "We are out of wine and vodka and anything of the sort…"  
The smile quickly faded from Roxas' face, "Oh…"

Cloud set a plate with eggs and bacon in front of his son.  
The food was placed to look like a smiley face, but the bacon was off center, giving it more of a creepy, dark, evil smile then anything. Omen?

Mouth full, Roxas asked, "Dad, I'm going to buy some paint today, and I know they are looking for someone to work at that department at the hardware store….so want me to get you an application?"  
Cloud shook his head no, trying to set an example for his son, he swallowed first, "Sure but I told you already, no one, but _no one_, wants to hire someone like…me…And where are you getting money for paint anyway?"  
"Oh, savings, I was going to remodel my room remember? I've been saving…"  
Cloud nodded, he was brooding again, not listening to a word Roxas said. He could have just as well told him he was going to steal it, and Cloud would nod either way.

Roxas wondered how Cloud could be so happy and sad at the same time.

Roxas' walk to the hardware took longer then normal, he was pulling a red 'radio flyer' wagon behind him, and he stopped by the 7-11 to get some sea-salt ice cream. This kid was forming a new addiction. He was starting to love this ice cream more then his Pickle Chips.  
But as for now, it was the same amount of love.

'Sky blue paint-Indoor only latex paint' is what the label said, perfect.  
He also picked up 'Eggshell white', 'Mint green', 'Royal blue', 'Eggplant' and 'Scarlet red', all in the same sized buckets. He wondered if this was enough paint to cover his room.

His way back brought him back to the 7-11 for Pickle Chips and Ice cream, a box this time.  
He wished he had a chip fairy that would bring him Pickle Chips whenever he dreamed…  
Ok, he was sure this time. He _was_ crazy.

Finally returning home, Roxas put his ice cream in the freezer with a sticky note telling Cloud to stay away, and his chips on the counter, no note since Cloud hated them.

Lugging all the paint into his room next, Roxas remembered something important.  
He grabbed the piece of paper that was under his paint, and handed the crumpled document to his father, "Here, they said they really needed someone and that you sound great!"

Cloud looked at the job application in worry.  
"I told them."  
He took a long look into his sons eyes, they were full of hope, something Cloud had not see in quite some time, "What did you tell them?"  
Roxas was out of breath still from lugging the most of the paint, "You're a drinker, they said they didn't care."  
Cloud's eyes grew angry, then remorseful again, "And they…They want to hire me?"  
Roxas nodded, smiling, "Yea! Well no…they want to _interview_ you first, then hire you."

The corner of Cloud's eyes swelled with water, "Oh Roxas…" He stood, hugging his son tight, "Thank you…SOOOO much!"

After hours of working on his room, everything was moved out of the way or under a paint tarp. Roxas had been waiting for this moment for quite some time, he hated his white room.

Throwing on some old clothing, Roxas stared at his mirror, "How do I cover you?"  
_"However you want."  
_Roxas looked around his room, then at his buckets of paint. He bought way to much.  
"I have an idea" Roxas threw an unused paint tarp over the mirror and began to paint his ceiling.

Seven hours past, the sun had set and Roxas was relaxing on his bed eating a bar of ice cream, admiring his work.  
Once finished, he threw away the stick and ripped off the tarp that was saving his mirror from drips.  
_"Whoa…"_  
Roxas had made a beautifully elaborate sun set, reds sinking into purples into dark blues. The red over his bed and mirror, the blue near the door out.  
He even placed a few stars in the blue.

"Like it?" Roxas smiled.  
_"Of course I do…its amazing, but you didn't take my idea…"  
_Roxas smiled, "Oh yes, I did." Grabbing a paintbrush he cracked open the 'sky blue', and painted the frame of his mirror, the blue overlaying the red like an eclipse. Next he blobbed white on it.

Once dry, Roxas gleamed, "See!? You're my own personal blue sky now! And blue frames your hair so nicely…"  
"Roxas?" His father had opened the door, "Who are you talking to…?"  
Didn't his father see? His mirror. He must have…  
Pointing, Roxas tried hard to explain, "Look! The mirror! Its…"  
"Blue and white? Yeah, I see it…"  
Roxas shook his head, "No! Don't you see! My reflection…"  
Cloud patted his son on the head, then went to open the window, "It's the pain fumes son…Just try to get some fresh air…"  
Leaving, Roxas looked at his mirror, it was just how it looked last time he saw.  
Red hair, green eyes, taller then Roxas was.

"Why can't he see you?"  
_"For now, its only you my prince."  
_"Why are you talking weird…maybe it is the fumes…" He walked up close to the window, taking in deep breaths.

When Roxas was done with his room, it was like a rainbow threw up in it.  
His mirror's frame was sky-blue with clouds, his dresser had a light blue top that faded into deep blue, then purple, then red.  
Each wall in his room was different. The one his mirror and bed were on was red, the one to the left of that was blue, the one with his door and dress on it was purple, and the one with the window was green.  
Having left over green, he painted his door it to.

He thought it might be safest if he slept in the living room tonight, just in case those fumes tried to murder him in his sleep.

Roxas lounged on his couch, eating Pickle Chips and watching some show called 'scrubs'.  
Soon he fell asleep, the bag hugged to his chest.

The next morning Roxas woke up and picked his chips off the floor, he must have drooped them in his sleep.  
He hoped they weren't stale now.  
Turning off the TV, Roxas grabbed his blanket and headed for the kitchen to drop off his chips.

"W-whys it so cold this morning?" Roxas threw the blanket around his shoulders, and walked into his room.  
It sure what bright in here now, and colorful.

He threw his blanket on the bed and looked up at his, now green, clock.  
Six fifty? Why was he up so early on a Sunday?

He let out a long yawn, then looked at his mirror. His hair had gotten longer.  
"When are you going to be done changing? I want to see what you are going to look like…"  
What happened next almost made Roxas faint.  
This mirror replied, like always.

But this time, its mouth moved, while Roxas' was shut tight, "Soon Roxie…Oh and you do realize its _Monday_ right?"

* * *

Notes!!!: YES! Something is FINALLY happening!!  
XD And I just LOVE how he painted his room.

He picked the green because it reminded him of his reflections eyes, just to let you know.  
Oh and I love how you ALL think that Axel is living in the mirror, you all wait, theres gonna be some GIANT twist and Axels gonna be like a new kid in school or something...Ahh you all just wait and see.

Gahhh I cant wait! My Sora necklace should be here soon ^_^

OHHH and please review!


	6. Apples make a lame breakfast

Note: Okay my grammar fixer lady fixed everything. ^_^ yay.  
The like first half of this is boring, sorry again. Well I dont know if 'boring' is right, stuff happens.  
Anyway I hope you all enjoy this, and please review, fav, or alert. ^_^

* * *

"Monday?" Roxas looked into his reflection in shock, "How can it be Monday?"  
"What do you mean 'How can it be Monday', its Monday that's how."

Roxas raced to get dressed, he needed to leave the house at six thirty to get to school at seven.  
His first period started at seven twenty, but seeing as it was Mr. Tribal's class, he was always there early, to avoid any trouble.

Roxas needed to leave at six thirty, and it was now six fifty eight.

Grabbing his backpack, an apple, and running out the door, the thought of the mirror moving by itself eluded him.

It was a breathless race to school, arriving there at seven twenty five.  
"Late" Roxas mumbled as he tried to catch his breath.

"Late _again_ Rockas?" Tribal stared daggers into Roxas as he walked into the class, ten minutes late.  
"I-I overslept…I'm sorry…"  
"_If_ you were sorry, _Rockas, _you would show up to class _on time._" Tribal spat at Roxas, then promptly pointed to his seat, "_sit down._"

The rest of the class, Roxas made even less noise then normal, sinking low in his seat so that Tribal wouldn't notice him.  
It didn't work.

"Rockas, would you mind telling the class, what is an important tool in understanding the neurobiological basis of psychiatric disorders and in identifying imaging markers to psychiatric disease, helping clinicians target specific parts of the brain for treatment?" Tribal loomed over Roxas, waiting for the answer.

Roxas had no idea of the answer, in all truth all he was _really _asking was 'What machine do they use to take pictures of the brain?', but Tribal used the biggest, most difficult words he could think of just to spite Roxas.  
"Um, ok well…A…camera of some sort?" To Roxas, this was a great answer.  
To Tribal, this was, well lacking, "Camera?"  
Roxas nodded, "Yeah, it takes pictures doesn't it?"

Tribal sighed, somewhat surprised that Roxas knew it took pictures, "Roxas…just….go to time out…"

On his way to the terrible Mrs. Carol's time out, Roxas realized, "He called me Roxas again…"  
So yeah, this wasn't really big news, but it was like the second time all year he had used Roxas' real name.

Opening the door to the time out room, Roxas looked around, and _of course, _Hayner was here.

"Sit down and shut up boy." Mrs. Carol pointed to the chair next to Hayner.  
Why was it that every person of faculty in this school knew a way to torture Roxas?

Whispering, Hayner's eyes gleamed at Roxas, "Got any lunch money Rocky?"

Roxas thought for a second, then dug into his pocket, "Yeah, I do." Handing a wad of dollar bills to Hayner, Roxas sat down and rested his head on the desk.

Hayner was as surprised as Roxas was when Tribal called him by his name, "Umm thanks Roxas…"

Looks like the new fad today was to call Roxas the name his parents gave him.  
Well Parent, his mother had wanted him to be called "Roxie", and called him that often when he was in her womb.  
Her whole pregnancy, she thought she was having a baby girl, she never got to see that she really had a son.  
When his wife passed, Cloud was lost at what to name his new responsibility.  
A nurse suggested "Roxas", because it was more manly then "Roxie".

His head on the desk, Roxas finally had time to think about his mirror.  
It moved. _Moved._

_'There's no way…I was seeing things, delusional from the cold and not enough sleep…oh and fumes, yeah the fumes…'_

"ROXAS!" Carol slammed her hands down on his desk, scaring Roxas to the point he fell from his chair, straight onto his behind.  
"Ow…Mrs. Carol that hurt…" Roxas stood up, rubbing his left, lower back.  
"Well then you shouldn't be _sleeping_ in my class!"  
Hayner interjected, "This isn't a class, you're not even a teacher."  
Bad idea.

"Not a teacher?!" Mrs. Carol stood up and drew her hand back, ready to slap the grin off Hayner's smug face.  
Roxas and Hayner waited, this was going to be good.  
But she never did it.

She stood there, hand drawn back ready to slap, for a few seconds, then stood up straight with her 'nice posture'.

"Humph." She stomped off to call security.  
She was going to make up something to get Hayner in trouble, she always did.

Roxas looked over to Hayner, who was sitting calmly in his chair, not sweating a bead, "T-thanks…"  
Hayner just nodded, "No problem…But you owe me one Rocky."

Rocky, how Roxas _hated_ being called that. He knew that Hayner got it from how tribal called him 'Rockas'.

Lunch, Roxas was _hungry._ His apple was no where _near_ enough to keep him fed through the day.  
Laying on the grass, under his 'lunch tree', Roxas looked into the sky.  
Blue, a few clouds, it was oddly warm and sunny for February.

The sky reminded Roxas of his mirror, then he began to think about it again.  
That voice, it was so comforting to him, and he had no idea why.  
That voice was sarcastic, and most of the time it was either mean or cryptic.  
But Roxas found solace in the voice. It made him feel warm, and it made him feel like he had a friend.

Roxas wished he could find a person with that voice, someone just like his reflection, but you know, real.

"Roxas?" Someone asked. Their voice was soft and small, he almost didn't hear him, "Roxas, I need to talk to you about something…"

Sitting up, Roxas saw the silver haired, sea blue-green eyed, 'Riku' boy from fifth period, "What is it…Riku?"

He played with his hands, twiddling his thumbs. He was nervous, and he made it _way_ to obvious, "Well…About the cutting thing the other day…I'm sorry I was so mean to you…Maybe…"

Roxas stood up, excited he asked, "We could be friends?"  
The smile on Roxas quickly faded as Riku shook his head, "Well no but…Maybe I shouldn't have been so mean. I mean…I _don't_ want to be your friend Roxas, but I felt bad that I was so mean, I mean…Ugh…"  
Roxas saw this was hard for him.  
Riku let out a sigh, "Well…I'm sure you cut yourself for a good reason…Didn't you?"

Staring at his feet, Roxas' voice was empty, "Yes, I did."  
Walking toward him, Riku asked, "Well, why?"

Roxas picked up his bag, "You don't want to be my friend Riku, So I don't want to be yours…Leave me be ok?"

As he headed toward his fifth period, Roxas made sure he bumped his shoulder up against Riku's, _hard._

The rest of the day, Roxas was silent. This was nothing new, but every time he had a reason, Roxas felt like it was new, like someone should notice his pain and comfort him.

In fifth period, Hayner tapped Roxas on the shoulder, "Roxas…thanks for the lunch money…"  
Roxas didn't look back, "But I still 'owe you one'?"  
With a 'playful' punch to the arm, Hayner smiled, "Yeah, you got it now!"

Roxas thought about what his reflection said about friends, maybe it was right.

Walking home, Roxas' hunger had made him grumpy and tired.  
So he did the only thing he thought was a good idea.  
He went to buy Pickle Chips.

It was the same blond cashier from the last time. This time Roxas got a look at his name tag, 'Demyx'.

Arriving at home, Roxas made sure to finish his chips and ditch the bag at the closet trash can before Cloud could see him with _more_ junk food.

As he reached for the doorknob, the door opened for him.  
"Roxas…" Cloud stared at his son, he was upset, "I got a call from your school today. You were late to first period."  
Roxas opened his mouth to explain, but Cloud put up a hand to him to silence him, "_And_, you were sent to time out again…Weren't you?"

Head down, Roxas slid past Cloud, into the house.  
"Do _not_ walk away from me Roxas…I'm your father, I should have some authority over your life."

Roxas dropped his bag to its normal spot next to the door and looked into his fathers blue eyes, "Yes, you are my father. But last time _I_ checked, fathers raised their sons with love, fathers didn't drink all godforsaken time, not even bothering to get a fucking job. Last time _I_ checked, fathers didn't beat their six fucking year old sons for crying that they wanted to grow up with a mother to love them!"

Roxas stormed off into his room, leaving Cloud speechless.

Slamming his door shut, Roxas pushed his back to it, then slid down, sitting on the floor.  
Seconds later, a bottle broke on the other side of it, making Roxas jump.

"Don't fucking tell me how to raise a son you little bastard!" Cloud screamed from the living room, "If I had my way, your mother would have gotten the fucking abortion I wanted her to get! She was such a slut, you should be glad you never got to meet her!"

Roxas knew the words that were coming next, he could recite them before Cloud could even think of them, "Its your fault…"

Cloud began screaming again, "Its your fault she's dead Roxas! _You_ killed her! You killed my wife you selfish bastard! Why?! Why couldn't you be the one to die instead!?"

Roxas heard several bangs in the kitchen, then the front door slam closed.  
He was gone, probably to buy some more vodka to 'ease the pain'.

What was going to ease Roxas' pain?

"I'm sorry…Why is he so bitter? You were a baby, you couldn't help being born…" Roxas' refection asked him, his voice softer then normal.

Roxas shook his head, trying to repress the tears, "No, it was my fault, everything is my fault in someone's  
eyes…Cloud's right, I never should have been born…"  
"Cloud?" The mirror asked Roxas.  
He nodded, "Yeah, that's my dads first name…Cloud…He's so serious and mean all the time, I cant believe he's named after a cloud…clouds are like fluffy and nice and…"  
Roxas trailed off, but his mirror seemed to finish his thought, "Dangerous. Clouds can bring thunder and storms, they bring hail and rain. Clouds can kill, in fact they do. But something else clouds do, they bring life. Your father brought you life, and he took care of you…Not very well but, he did. You're not dead are you?"  
A slight pause, then he continued, "He tried his hardest, he still is trying. Think about how hard it must be for your poor father, he lost the love of his life and all you lost was the chance to meet someone you're related to."

Roxas thought about all of this, and for the first time in his life, Roxas wished his father would come home.  
Roxas wished he could run up to his father, say he was sorry, and have them both be happy again.  
Instead, Roxas drove Cloud to go get drunk again, to go and kill off his chances of sobriety and his liver. Great.

Back against his door, Roxas sobbed. Remorse, sometimes it was a good thing.

"Now now, don't look so sad. Its just one day, I'm sure everything will work out fine. You know Roxas, 'There must be a happy ending in every story, if the ending is sad, its not really an ending…'"

Roxas looked up as his reflection, "But a new beginning. A new start of something great."  
A smile from his mirror, "The possibilities, the wonderment. A fresh start to change your life for the better."

Roxas got up and wiped away his tears.  
That saying was something his grandfather had told him on his death bed.

Roxas was holding his hand, crying and begging him not to leave him alone with just his father.  
Begging him not to leave so Roxas and his dad could stay with grandpa, so they could be a big happy family.  
His grandfather's last words were a simple quote, he was hoping it would comfort his grandson.  
He passed away with Roxas holding his hand, and that saying stayed with him all these years.

"You know Mirror, You aren't so bad….Your nice to have around but…"

A frown, the fact that the mirror's face could move independently from Roxas was still a little bit weird, but so was everything else that was going on, "But what? Are you going to get rid of me?"

Roxas shook his head, and walked up to the mirror.  
In this brief moment with the mirror, Roxas forgot all his trouble today.  
Smiling, something Roxas had not done much of today, "Of course I'm not going to get rid of you, I just need something to call you…So what's your name?"

* * *

Noties: So yea, thats what happened, crazy no?  
I dont have much to say on the story, but if you care about my life, go ahead and read the rest of ths author note XD.

My dads adopted mom is like, dying. Shes mean, and she hates my mom so I guess its not a big deal to me, but this means I need a furneral dress and have to go to the damn thing...Ugh. .  
I guess I need to be more simpatheic about it huh? XD god im sure I spelled that wrong, and furneral...

Oh and I got an email from cosplaymagic saying they shipped it today at 5 am, well yesterday (saterday).

And last thing I have to say is, I have a cold, so I feel like perpetual crap. It sucks...

And yea, please review, fav, or alert. ^_^  
(Next chapter coming some time this week...hope it gets like more action packed and less lame....)

_**Why does Cloud think Aeris a slut?**_ XD Cloud is angry, simple as that. Hes a special person.


	7. Survival

Note: Sorry this took so long...sick. XD more details in my profile in the "note to all readers" part.  
Umm so yea...Not much to say, except I pretty much forgot _everything _that had happened in my story so far...so if you see any plot holes, tell me.  
Oh and I want to say sorry in advance for some words in this one but, hey, thats why its rated 'T' right?  
Enjoy!

* * *

"Name?" The reflection looked dumbfounded, "I don't have a name, I'm a mirror, why would I have a name?"

Roxas sighed, "Well I have to call you something! What did your last owners call you?"  
"Hm…Well, the lady called me "fat" a lot…"  
Roxas sighed again, "Nooooo, she was calling herself fat…wait, you've never shown anyone before me this whole… changing thing?"  
"What changing thing?" The reflection had a devious smile, he was _trying_ to upset Roxas.

Groaning in frustration, Roxas put his hand over his eyes, "What? You _want_ me to think I'm crazy?"

No response.

Roxas looked up, his reflection was normal again. His refection was, well, him.  
"Hey…Mirror? Where did you go?" He looked behind it.  
Quickly pulling his head back, he felt incredibly stupid.

"Maybe I am crazy…" He stared at his feet, all his pride in his ability in making new friends was fading, and he was beginning to think of his last encounter with his father.

He didn't get much time to think, before he could fully lay down on his bed, his father burst through the door.  
He didn't even hear him enter the house. Sneaky.

"Get…the…_fuck _up." Cloud ordered, angrier then Roxas had seen him in some time.

Not leaving his laying down position, Roxas didn't even bother looking at his father, "Why should I?"

Suddenly he felt a hand on his leg, yanking him onto the floor, "Because I _fucking_ said so, you little shit! Now do what I say!"  
Roxas' head hit the floor with a bang that made his father laugh, and continue his speech, "Do you hear me you little faggot?!"

Was Roxas hearing this right? Did his father call his a 'faggot'? Why? Had he been talking to Hayner?

"I _asked_ if you heard me you little _maggot!?_" He yelled again.  
Roxas didn't reply.

_'Ohhhh, Maggot. He called me a maggot, not a faggot…'_

A swift kick to the shin roused Roxas from his thoughts.  
His father leaned in and screamed into his face, _"Do you fucking hear me!? Get out of my house RIGHT NOW!"_

Roxas was glad to obey, running for his life out the door.

"Why is it that we cant talk like normal human beings? Why does he _always _have to have liquor to talk to his only son? And why does that damn stuff" Roxas kicked a rock on the ground while walking, "Make him so violent!?"

Not slowing his pace, Roxas saw Hayner leaning on a lamp post in front of the 7-11.

"Hey fag boy, you got a light?" Hayner asked, showing Roxas his unlit cigarette.

Something in Roxas broke that second. He imagined doing terrible things to Hayner with that cigarette.  
Terrible things, that made Roxas feel dirty thinking about them.

So when Roxas passed, he did the least mean thing he could think of to Hayner.  
He stopped.

He stopped and looked Hayner straight in the eye.

"Hey, faaaag boy." Hayner waved a hand in front of Roxas' face, "You there?"

Roxas didn't want to take this anymore.  
Why did Hayner have the right to treat him like that? What made Hayner so great? Absolutely nothing.  
So what if he was going crazy and everything with the mirror was a lie? It had taught him one good thing.  
Hayner had no right, _no_ right, to pick on him.

So Roxas did the first thing that came to mind.  
He took Hayner's cigarette, looked at it lovingly, like it was his savor from everything, and grabbed some matches from his pocket.

_'Those matches aren't yours, you took them so dad wouldn't smoke anymore…Why do you still have them?'_ Roxas kept going over this thought in his mind.

"Hey, fag boy, give those back." Hayner broke him from his thoughts.

Roxas smiled, struck the match on this pants, lighting it, the placed it to the cigarette.  
It lit quicker then Roxas thought it would.

"Good little fag, now give it back to me ok?" Hayner was using the baby talk voice, and that meant one thing, "Your mommy would _hate_ to know you were smoking. I already saw your daddy today and told him you had a thing for some emo boy at school, and he got pretty mad. I wonder how mad _mommy_ would be if you started smoking?"

_'Hayner talked to dad?! Maybe he was calling me a faggot…I don't really remember, I must have hit my head harder then I thought…'_

Roxas looked at Hayner with utter disgust in his eyes.

He had no right to lie to Roxas' father, causing more tension, he had no right to call him a fag, when Roxas was _not _gay to begin with, and he had _no_ right to talk about his mother, even if he didn't know she was dead.

Roxas couldn't take it anymore, taking the burning cigarette, he stabbed it into Hayner's left cheek, left it there for a few seconds, and dropped it to the ground.

"You…." Hayner was bubbling with anger, the burn mark on his cheek was a dark red, almost black, "You…_bastard!_" Hayner exploded and jumped on Roxas, punching him anywhere he could see.

Roxas curled himself into a ball, and took the punches. There was no getting away from Hayner now, but it was worth it.

"You fucking emo fag!" Hayner screamed at the top of his lungs, pounding into Roxas' kidney.

Roxas didn't move, he was waiting.

"How fucking dare you! You cum-guzzling bastard!!" Hayner threw a few punches at Roxas' face, lucky his arms were covering his face, so they took most of the beating.

Still Roxas gave no reaction.

"I'm going to fucking kill you, you cowardly little vermin!" Roxas was surprised how much Hayner's vocabulary improved when he was angry and punching the snot out of someone's stomach.

Roxas was almost done waiting, he could feel it.

Hayner rose to his feet, "I fucking hate you _soooo_ much Strife! I _am_ going to get you back for this! You just wait!" With a final note, Hayner kicked Roxas one last time in the stomach, and walked away 'victorious'.

Roxas waited a bit longer, until the crowd that gathered around left. Then he rose to his feet as well.

_'I wonder if it was all worth it…'_

Roxas' stomach was in terrible pain, his back hurt felt like was run over by a truck, and the part of his face the was hitting the pavement as Hayner attacked his arms was cut fairly bad.

But he survived. Roxas survived defending himself.

He wondered if he could do the same with his intoxicated father?

Either way, he was missing school tomorrow.

Roxas walked slowly into the 7-11, the same blond cashier was there, like he didn't have anything better to do then to be at work.

"Whoa kid, that was pretty ballsy" He had put his magazine down to talk to Roxas.

Placing his sea-salt ice cream on the counter, Roxas sighed, "I got the shit beat out of me…How was that 'ballsy'?"

He noticed the name tag say 'Demyx' on the cashier, meaning that this _was_ the same creepy cashier as before, as he was leaning toward Roxas, "He's a bully, I saw him steal your skateboard the other day. I bet he seems to pick on you a lot…And standing up to someone like that…" He shook his head, "I couldn't do that, I'll tell you that much."

Roxas set two dollar bills on the counter, "Pft, all I did was burn him with his own cigarette…He was talking about my mo-…Never mind."

As Roxas started to walk away, Demyx pushed his money back, "Its on the house. I steal it all anyways, so its not like the stores making a profit either way."

"Your going to get fired…"

"Like this jobs worth it…" He scoffed, then went back to reading his magazine about 'sitars' again, giving Roxas a sly smile before he left.

Roxas leaned on a wall next to his apartment building, listening to his father scream obscenities loud enough for anyone in a five block radius to hear. He was so very proud of his gene pool right now.

Long after he was done with his ice cream, and his face finished bleeding from the cement, Roxas listened closely.  
His father wasn't screaming anymore.  
There were no more bangs, or sounds of his house being torn apart in anger.

Just quiet.  
Then one final bang, the sound of a door hitting the metal siding of a house.

Then some stomping, and Roxas saw his father.  
He was carrying a vodka bottle, and he stammered to get into his car.

_'Driving? Maybe I should stop him…'  
_Roxas watched his father pull away from their apartment building, their lives, and Roxas' sanity.

This was definitely not the first time this has happened.  
Through all Roxas' years, every time he watched his father pull away like this, assorted bottled in hand, even since Roxas could remember, he always thought the same thing.

_'God, please let him get into an accident and be the only one hurt…' _

Roxas no longer cared how mean that was, all he wanted to do was climb into his bed and fix what his father destroyed.

Destroyed, that was the understatement of the year.

His bed covers were ripped apart like someone took a knife to them.  
His window was broken into many tiny pieces.  
His walls were covered with dents and what looked like a little blood, like his father cut his knuckle punching so hard.

The one thing spared and untouched was his mirror.

His lovely mirror.

He ran towards it, a smiling creeping onto his face. His reflection turned back into the look Roxas grew to love.  
With a few exceptions.

His hair was spikier, and full out red, it reminded Roxas of a angry porcupine.  
He was much taller, and skinnier.  
And he was wearing something entirely different then Roxas.

Tight black pants hugging his small figure, a red shirt, long sleeved, tight as the pants, and a necklace.  
The necklace had a silver chain, hanging from it was a red circle with a few points sticking out of it.

With a sly smile, the mirror looked at Roxas, "I'm done."

* * *

Nottttyyyysss: XD I love how off topic this chapter got, theres NOTHING to do with that little mirror.  
I guess its just more backround for poor little Roxas.  
I dont know why I'm giving him such a bad life, but XD I guess I'm just mean that way huh?  
There was alot of people telling me that Roxas needed to fight back to Hayner, so I did. ^_^

Okay, please review, fav, and/or alert!!

**_FINAL NOTE:_** Dont you just love cliffhanger endings? review to tell me ;)


	8. Silly head

**Note**: XD honeslty, I wrote this two hours after seven...but I waited to upload it. Why?  
Because I generaly get more views when I wait, and im a view whore XD sorry, its the truth.  
^_^ So please, enjoy this...

XD GOD this chapter is short...Sorry, please dont kill me ok?

My grammar nazi, I mean best friend and proof reader kiddy, says alot happens in this chapter, but I dont think so...Hmm...^_^ Tell me for yourself in the reviews!

* * *

"Done?" Roxas looked his reflection over. He was surprisingly…Handsome.

The reflection nodded happily, his porcupine-esque locks bouncing with his head.  
"Yea, I'm done! Can you believe it! Sorry it took so long…" he nervously rubbed the back of his head.

It still weirded Roxas out that his reflection in a mirror could move. _Move.  
_You know, like a human being…But in a mirror…_not_ doing what his reflectee was doing.

Roxas let out a sigh, "I'm glad to see you…But…" He look down at his feet, pondering on what to say next.

The reflection bent down, quite the strange sight since he is 2-D, "But what Roxas?"

Looking back up, Roxas groaned, "Dad…What am I going to do about dad?!"

"Doesn't he pull this kind of stuff all the time?"

"Yea but…I don't know, this time feels different. And now he thinks I'm gay!" Roxas waved his hands frantically, trying to prove a point.

Sitting on his floor crossed legged, the reflection looked up at Roxas, "Why?"

For the next fifteen minutes, Roxas laid on his bed, and regaled the entire story about Hayner, Riku, and that creepy cashier at the 7-11 to his reflection.  
Yeah, he was _soooo_ not losing his mind.

Just as he was finishing his story, Roxas heard a loud bang, followed by a smash of a bottle on his door.  
"Where the fuck is that boy!?" He heard his father slur.

He was cursing the fact he didn't get into a car wreck.

"I don't like swearing, you should tell him that." The reflection noted as Roxas bolted off his bed, looking for either something to push in front of the door, or somewhere to hide.

As Roxas was starting to contemplate jumping from his two-story high window, his door burst open, revealing his way-too-intoxicated father.

"There you are you faggot" His father slurred, putting way too much emphasis on 'faggot'.

Roxas waved his hands at his father, trying to signal for him to stop charging at him and to cool down, "No dad really! I'm not gay!!"

A bottle flew past Roxas, out his broken window, onto the street, "Don't lie to me anymore boy!"

"Really! Honest! I am not lying! Why would I li-"  
Roxas' words were cut off as his fathers hands wrapped around his neck.

"What did I do wrong!? I raised you right! I taught you to be strong and honest! And you _lie_ to me! You fucking _lie to me_!" Cloud's grip was becoming tighter, as Roxas' vision began to blur.

Roxas tried to kick Cloud in the stomach, but his limbs failed him as the oxygen to his brain was straining.

Why was he doing this to his child?  
How could someone say they loved you, then do this?  
Roxas wished this was the first time he had been choked by his father.  
He remembered the first time, he was nine.

He had left his skateboard in the living room, he had just got it.

Cloud tripped over it, drunk off his ass, and attacked his only son.

Roxas never left his skateboard in the living room, or anywhere near his father, again.

But what could he do this time? He wasn't gay, he wasn't lying, and he hadn't done anything wrong!  
There was nothing he could not do again to learn from this.

"Why…" Cloud's voice was straining, like he was holding something back, "Wont…" Roxas hardly saw it, his vision was going black, "You…" But he did see it, "DIE!?"  
His father was sobbing. He did really hate Roxas that much? Was he crying that he couldn't kill his only son? That he couldn't kill the only part of Aeris he had left?

He dropped his son to the floor, burying his face in the hands that had just tried to kill his son, and sobbed.  
He was crying.  
Not something Roxas saw often.

Roxas would have been more sympathetic over his shaking and sniffling father, if he hadn't been so busy catching his breath and rubbing his neck.

He considered going to school tomorrow, just to get away.

The boys laid there. Father crying on the floor in a heap of self pity, son curled up, leaning on the wall, knees hugged to his chest, praying that his father would suffer a heart attack and leave him alone.

Besides his fathers untimely death, Roxas wished this wasn't the first time he lived out this scene.

"He's a cold person…" Roxas' reflection told him, they both knew his father couldn't hear him.  
"Such a cold…cold person…"

Roxas stood up, rubbed his neck, and walked over to his bed, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, he's a terrible person! He just choked his only son!"

Roxas scoffed, "Wouldn't be the first time, probably won't be the last…"

"Well I want it to stop…You're a good person Roxas, who cares if you like other boys?"

Roxas gave his reflection his best death glare, "I'm not gay…"

Laughing, making Roxas feel even _more_ crazy, his reflection looked at him, eyes burning holes into Roxas' soul, "How do you know? You've never kissed a girl, but then again, you've never kissed a guy. Besides it doesn't matter, you're you, no matter what right?"

He hated how much sense his mirror could make.

He also hated how crazy he felt.

But he felt something _besides_ the crazy this time. He felt warm. Happy.  
Like he had a friend.  
Pretending to ignore what he said, Roxas asked, "_Are_ we friends?"

A small pause, "Well yea, of course we are silly head!"

Roxas had realized his father passed out long ago, sucking on his thumb, "Silly head? God, for someone I'm making up, you sure are different…"

"You _are not_ making me up Roxas."

"Okay, then where do you come from?"

A creepy little giggle, followed by, "You'll see…Soon enough…"

Roxas _was_ going to burst out in anger at his reflection, considering today's events, but his voice was frozen in his throat.

A hand was on his leg.

Before he could register what happened, he was on the floor again, and his father was standing over him, a foot resting on Roxas' chest.

"I hate you son…" His eyes welled up with tears once more, "I hate you so much…You took her away from me…And you sit here…every _fucking_ day…" He jabbed a finger toward Roxas on the word 'day', "And you act like you don't remind me of her! All you ever what is attention, and you just sit there and you look like her and…" He wasn't even trying to hide the tears anymore, "And you just remind me everyday that you took her from me…And all you want is _more_!" He slammed a fist down in Roxas' chest, bringing him to a laying position on his son, spitting in his face as he continued, "All you do is take from me! All you do is take and you remind me of her!" He punched Roxas in the face, hard as he could, which at this point wasn't that hard since he was crying and drunk, "Why…didn't you just die…"  
His father was sobbing uncontrolled now, so Roxas pushed him off.

Getting up, Roxas shook his head. He hated the smell of various alcohols on his father's breath.  
Especially when they were that close to him, unable to escape.

Watching his father cry in the fetal position on his floor, Roxas thought about his life.  
Why was he such a coward? Why doesn't he just stand up to his father, the way he did to Hayner today?  
And why did his neck _still_ hurt?

He got up to check himself out in the mirror, late to realize he would have to use the bathroom one.

"Are you ok…Your necks bleeding…so is your mouth…" His reflection pointed out the obvious.  
Roxas could taste it.  
Roxas was used to this taste…_Far_ to used to that taste for his own sanity.

Roxas let out a sigh, "I know…"

Roxas had to sleep on the couch that night, after he bandaged this wounds. His father had dug his nails into his neck, fairly deep.  
His father had taken up residence on Roxas' floor, where he would most likely spend the rest of the night.

As Roxas lay on his mildew/mold smelling couch, watching his old TV with a rerun of 'scrubs' on, he remembered something.  
His arm.

He rolled up his sleeve, looking at the scab that was starting to form.  
"That dream…How did it…" Roxas was talking to himself, he had gotten used to the mirror replying, he almost forgot he was in the wrong room.

He sighed and laid his head onto the pillow. Tomorrow was going to be a _long_ day.  
Glancing at the clock, he noted it was only seven thirty. He could go to school, he would get enough sleep.  
But that would mean explaining all the cuts and bruises from Hayner and dad.

He had a feeling 'I fell off my skateboard' wouldn't cut it this time.

* * *

**Author Note:** Lame note name, I know. And I promise! The Roxas abuse is pretty much done. ^_^ So momentai everyone!

XD And yes kiddy, you can feel off something...(I acidenlty put "feel" Instead of "fell" in the last sentance and she made fun of me)

So yea, please review, fav, and alert! ( I took out the 'or' because I want them all XD)

Sora...necklace...still not here...


	9. Turning over a new leaf

**Note:** XD long chapter is looooong!!!  
*clears throat* Okay, sorry this took so long. Busy weekend/life.  
I dont have much to say but enjoy...

* * *

The next morning Roxas strolled into his room in a sleepy daze.

_'Why did I sleep on the couch?' _

He found his reason soon enough; his father lay covered in the shredded remains of Roxas' comforter set on his floor, the room reeked of alcohol, blood, and shame.

At least Roxas thought this is what shame would smell like. If emotions had a smell.  
He was sure when his father woke up, he would be ashamed.  
He beat his only son and destroyed his room with what Roxas was guessing was his pocket knife.  
Wouldn't you be ashamed?

Well maybe Cloud was used to the feeling and smell of shame. He had done this enough times.

Picking out his clothing for the day, Roxas had to step over his father a few times.  
He noticed he was still sucking his thumb and drooling on Roxas' floor.

Making his way to school, Roxas was definitelyfeeling yesterday.  
His neck was covered in bruises, the outside of his cheek where he hit the pavement was still an open wound that stung when the air hit it, his legs were covered in bruises like his neck, making it hard to walk, and he was plain sore all over.  
On the bright side, the inside of his cheek stopped bleeding.  
On the other, less bright side, he didn't understand why the inside was bleeding in the first place.  
Yesterday was such a blur.

"I wish I had a skateboard…" Roxas mumbled to himself as he walked the mile or so to school.

"I bet you do Strife, they sure are nice when you have to walk to school everyday. And you must be _sore_ after yesterday, so I guess a _skateboard_ would come in handy right now huh? Don't you _wish you had one_?"  
Hayner. Why in gods name did it have to be _Hayner_?

"What do you want Hayner?" Roxas let out a sigh, but kept his moderate pace to school. He was not going to be late to Tribal's class because of someone like _Hayner_.

"I want you, Strife, to say you are sorry for what you did to my face!" Hayner stood in front of Roxas, blocking his way.

Roxas had a few options now.  
He could push Hayner out of the way, thereby insuring another beating.  
He could walk across the street, thereby making Hayner mad and insuring another beating.  
Or he could stand there and talk to the boy. Probably insuring another beating.

"I…I'm sorry Hayner…" Roxas mumbled under his breath, in an almost whisper.

Holding a hand cupped around his ear, Hayner prodded, "_What_ was that Strife? I couldn't hear you…"

Roxas let out a disgruntled sigh, "I…Am…SorryHayner…"

"No no no," Hayner shook a finger at Roxas, "You have to _mean it_ and say it in a _slow_ pace. Try again…"

He couldn't take much more of this, "Hayner…"

"Yes Fag boy?"

"I'm sorry for what I did to your face…"

Hayner was getting way to much pleasure out of this, "And before you did that…Would you say my face was pretty Fag boy?"

It looks like Roxas got a new nickname. Perfect.

Hayner had pulled this stunt before, if Roxas didn't complement him, something bad would happen.

"Yes Hayner, you have the most beautiful face I have ever seen. I am so _very_ sorry I burned it and ruined its immense glory."

_'Yea I'm sorry I didn't do worse to you…'_

Hayner cracked a devious smile, "That's all I needed Fag boy."  
With that he threw Roxas his skateboard he was withholding from him.

As he walked away, Roxas thought he was something in Hayner's hand that looked like a tape recorder.  
Why would Hayner have one of those?

Making it to school on time, Roxas pushed past the horde of people in the halls to make it to his first period.

Settling into his seat, Roxas felt overly self-conscious.  
Everyone was looking at the bruises on his neck, the cuts on his cheek.  
Why did any of them care? He knew some of the kids from his classes saw the fight.  
If they cared, they would have helped him.

The bell rung, people scrambled to their seats and Professor Tribal started to talk again.

"Settle down class."  
He said it every morning, and no one ever listened. The persistent man he was, he repeated himself a few times before screaming.  
The scream, like every morning, shut the class up.

All Roxas' classes were normal until fifth period.  
All day everyone had treated him the say way they did whenever he showed up with bruises.  
They ignored him.  
Except in fifth period.  
Why did everything seem to happen in this class?

Roxas' eyes were focused on his desk, he wanted to keep his head down and not draw attention to himself.  
Mr. Crescent was the only teacher that wouldn't believe you could get some what hand shaped bruises on your neck from a skateboard.

"What happened to you?" It was the silver haired boy, with the pretty eyes. Riku?

Roxas looked up, snapped out of his daydream of ways to hurt Hayner by the boy talking, "What did you say?"

"What happened…To your neck?" Riku repeated himself, pointing to Roxas' throat.

He unconsciously grabbed it, "Oh this? I…Fell off my skateboard." Roxas let out a cheesy smile that seemed to win everyone over.

"You…Bruised your neck by falling off your skateboard?" Riku wasn't going to believe Roxas this easy.  
Damn it.

Roxas nodded, still smiling.

"Right…I'm sure you did…" Riku went back to work.  
So what if he didn't believe him? He wasn't bugging him anymore.

Half way through class and Crescent still hadn't noticed. Perfect, Roxas could make it though the day.  
At least he thought so…

"Every grab your backpacks and get to the field, this is not a drill!" Mr. Crescent screamed, ushering his class out of the building as the fire alarm rang.

Roxas would have put this off as a drill, regardless of what Mr. Crescent said.  
If it weren't for the black smoke billowing out of the school roof.

The school spent the next hour on the field, watching as their high school memories were ripped apart and burned.  
To Roxas, this didn't seem to bad.

_Arson. _  
That's what everyone was saying.  
Why would someone light the school on fire that wasn't Roxas?  
Roxas didn't do it, and no one else could possibly hate it as much as him.

Buses took the high school students that weren't picked up by parents to a neighboring school.  
From there they had to either walk, get a ride, or use the bus.

Roxas walked, the middle school they dropped them off at was closer to his house then the high school.

_'I wonder how long school will be out for…'_

Home at last. Today was long.  
Roxas hated having all those eyes on him.  
At least he was going to be out of school for a while; there was repairs to be done and people to stuff in Juvie.  
Those things took time.

Roxas dropped his backpack down and let out a sigh.  
Time to wake up dad.

Roxas entered his room, excepting to see a heap of his father, drool, and shredded blankets.

"He's gone. He got a phone call and left." Roxas' mirror informed him.

"What?! Where did he go?" Roxas was panicking. Where could his father have left to? What if he got drunk again and did something stupider then yesterday?

"Calm down little Roxie." His mirror hushed, "Everything's going to be all right…Just give it time."

_'Time? I don't have time! I need to keep dad out of jail!'_

"You know Roxie, everything happens for a reason."

"Yea, so?" Roxas sat himself on his bed, trying to calm himself down.

_'He is so much easier to keep track of at night…Why would he go out and be drunk in the daylight!?'_

"In the wide open daylight!" Roxas groaned, laying down.

"Roxie…What about daylight?" Roxas forgot the mirror couldn't seem to hear his thoughts anymore.

"Ugh" He groaned, "Its nothing…"

Roxas didn't even notice himself fall asleep.

He awoke to his father, pounding on his door.

"Roxas!!" He yelled threw the wood, "Roxas come here! _We need to talk!_"

Great.

"Coming!" Roxas called, getting up with a yawn and a stretch.  
At least these bruises would heal before he went back to school.

Roxas opened his door to his fathers extremely happy face, "Uhh…"

"They want me Roxas!" He was overjoyed.

"Who wants you to do what? Dad if this is illegal I cant cover for you again, I'm only fifteen and-"

Cloud put a finger to Roxas' lips, "Hush kid, listen to me for a second ok?"

Strange, Cloud was…Sober.  
_Sober._

"That store, the one you got me the application for, called me today. The hardware store."

Roxas gasped, "What? Really what did they say? Were you sober when you answered?"

Cloud let out a happy nod, "Yup, in fact I have been all day. Know why Roxas my boy?"

Roxas shook his head, and Cloud told him, "They hired me! That's right! Your looking at the newest employee of Synth co.!"

Roxas was taken into a tight hug from his father.  
Yea his rib cage was being crushed, but it was being crushed lovingly.

"D-dad?" Roxas gasped, "Your…gonna kill me…"

Cloud quickly dropped him, then gave him a sad look, "Roxas…What happened to your face?" He put a hand on Roxas' chin, tilting it up to inspect the damage, "And my god! Your neck! Did someone at school do this to you?"

Roxas' heart sunk. He hated this.  
Cloud never remembered what he did to Roxas, unless he told him.  
But Roxas never told him. When sober, his father was such a kind person, it would break his heart to know he did this to him.

Roxas brushed his hand away, "Yea…A kid at school..." Clouds heart felt like a huge weight was lifted, He didn't do this, and that was great.  
"Oh and guess what happened today?" Roxas was trying to change the subject.

"The fire? I heard…" Cloud wasn't going to let this one go, "So tell me, who did this to you Roxas?"

"Don't worry about it, I fell off my…" Roxas stopped, Cloud knew it was stolen, "I got my skateboard back today." Cheesy smile. Works every time.

Cloud lit up seeing his son somewhat happy, "I saw it by the door. I'm glad that kid you were letting borrow it finally gave it back."

Okay, so Cloud didn't remember anything when drunk. So on a good note for Roxas, Cloud forgot Hayner told him he was gay.

Cloud was to easy to lie too, "I want to start my homework, why don't you cook a special dinner, to celebrate you getting a job?"

"That's a good idea Roxas." Cloud smiled at his son, "I'll call you when its ready."

Cloud turned tail and exited, "Oh and Roxas?"

"Yes dad?"

"I love you son, I hope you know that."

"I love you to…dad…" Roxas could feel his heart ripping apart. He hated his father, but he loved him more then anything. Cloud was all he had to hold onto anymore.  
But Cloud could be a reason for him letting it all go.

Maybe Roxas should tell him about last night, when he was drunk.

Sitting back down on his bed, Roxas noticed a note attached to his mirror.  
_'Dad's handwriting…'_

_"Roxas, I am so sorry about whatever happened here last night. I know I did something bad, I'm sure you'll fill me in on the details when I get home._

_And about your bed sheets, I'll replace them. Along with everything else I broke.  
I'm going to an interview today, the lady sounded desperate for someone to work there._

_There's just one thing I need to know…did I hurt you?  
Please don't lie to me when I get home…Like normal.  
If I did, I couldn't live with myself…I remember when that happened when you were little.  
I'll never be able to make that up to you, but I can try and keep myself from doing it again.  
I don't know why I act the way I do when I drink, but I am sorry.  
I'm sure you could forgive an old man, to drunk to know better…Couldn't you?_

_Either way, I'm turning over a new leaf. From this day forward, I'll have a job, I wont drink, and I will be a better father.  
You deserve one, you are such a great kid._

_Anyway I need to get going, I'm sure you'll read this when you get home, so then when I get home, we can talk and straighten everything out. __Lots of love, your dad."_

Why didn't Roxas notice this note when he first came home? He must have been too tired.

If Roxas thought his heart was being ripped apart before, this note just ripped it out, burned it alive, then dumped the ashes of it in acid.

Roxas stared at it for a long time.

"What am I going to do?" He asked his mirror.

"Tell him the truth, he needs to know…Lies wont help anything…"

"I know but…It would break him…."

"Maybe it will break him so much he's too broken to drink."

The mirror had a point.

"Well…I guess I can tell him…" Roxas folded up the note and threw it to his bed.

"Good boy. Just remember, the truth will set you free!"

Roxas glared at his mirror, "Ok what? Were you a fucking fortune cookie in your last life or something?"

The mirror giggled, "Oh now Roxie, be nice. I'm just trying to help you, ya know?"

"Roxas! Dinner!" Cloud called from the other room.

"Remember what I said Roxie…"

Roxas turned to leave for dinner, "I will."  
He was almost sure when he walked away from the mirror, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

* * *

**Noto:** ^_^ I hope you all liked that. XD WAY to much happened in this chapter, but at the same time, nothing did.  
Weird how these things work out huh?

**FAQ:**

**Who set the school on fire?** Sorry I cant tell you that...

**Was it Axel?** XD _How_ does that work? Hes in a fricken mirror! But then again, who knows...

**Is Axel going to come out of the mirror then?** XD Sorry I cant tell you that either, and how do you know its Axel?

**Its an AKUroku, who else would that be?** ....Reno?

**Reno doenst look like that...?** And that wasnt a real question. So I win. ^_^

Please review, fav, and alert!  
This author lives on reviews!! If you dont want me to die, I would review if I were you... (guilt trips for the win)

Also, I posted some of my friends work on here. Go read it. Its called "Waffles". READ IT _NOW._


	10. Wheelies

**Note:** Gahh your all gonna kill.... Me and my endless filler chapters where nothing seems to happen...  
**Kiddy:** Its not filler, stuff actualy happens!  
Pft, yea sure it does.... whatevers...read.

**_And heres something useful to your reading pleasure:  
_**Document manager hates me...Whats new? So my spacings all messed up but its like four thirty and...I R sleepy...So i'll probably fix it later...or not...XD

**Hey guess what! I learned something writing this chapter!** You know what that is? XD I can write while asleep. Kinda. All of the part about the park (you'll see) was writen while I was zoning out mostly asleep not knowing I was writing. :D Talent? I think so...Tells me in a review maybe?

* * *

"Roxas!" Cloud called impatiently to his son, "Get your ass out here!"

Roxas looked back.  
Nothing.  
Shrugging it off, he joined his father in the kitchen.

Taking a seat at the counter, Roxas watched his father happily make dinner for them.  
He considered telling Cloud what _really_ happened to him.  
That he did all those things.  
That he had hurt his only son…

Turning to face his son, Cloud set a plate in front of him with two eggs and bacon, arranged in a smiley face.  
Was that all Cloud could cook? It had been so long since he made dinner, Roxas forgot his skills diminished soon after "eggs and bacon".  
Clouds defense to this was that eggs and bacon was the perfect meal. For any time of the day.  
'Much better the Pickle Chips.'

"Was it your friend Hayner?" Cloud asked Roxas, his mouth full of eggs.  
Roxas simply shook his head, "Ugh…"  
"You can tell me, I wont tell the school or his parents or anyone if you don't want…"

_'Just tell him, he WANTS to know SO bad…Lying is bad…'_

"No, it wasn't Hayner dad…" Roxas chomped a piece of bacon.  
It was chewy and slightly undercooked. He hoped it killed him.

"Was it…That one bully? Snifter?" Cloud asked taking an especially big gulp of milk.

_"Just remember, the truth will set you free!"_

"You mean _Seifer? _No dad, it wasn't _Seifer…_" Roxas' heart felt oddly heavy.  
How could something suspended in your chest, the very core of your life, feel heavy? Wasn't it suppose to feel light and not be a burden all the time?

_"Oh now Roxie, be nice. I'm just trying to help you, ya know?"_

Sighing Cloud begged, "Okay I give _up_! Who _was_ it!?"

By this time, Roxas' stomach was doing aerobatics and his heart felt like it was going to drop any second from its sheer weight.

"Well…" Roxas began, "…You know what dad? Lets not ruin this stupendous night by…talking of such unpleasant things…"

Roxas had a telltale sign of nervousness when talking to his father.  
For some reason which he had _no idea_ why.

He used _every single _word that was longer seven letters that he knew, and tried to 'stupefy' his father.

In his ten years of this practice, it has never worked once.

"I'm not as dumb as you try and make me seem son." Cloud was blankly staring into the kitchen.

There was a long pang of silence, broken by Cloud, "If you don't want to tell me…" He grabbed his plate and set it into the sink, "Then fine. I just thought you would let me know…" Walking past Roxas again, he added, "I start work tomorrow. They are in desperate need of people…Night…"

Yup, if Roxas' stomach wasn't doing aerobatics before, it was now.  
Not only was it doing death-defying feats, it had some company, because Roxas was almost sure that his heart got so heavy, it fell into his stomach at dinner.

Either way, Roxas never could keep down his fathers cooking.

"Why did you lie to him?" Roxas' mirror asked when Roxas returned from the bathroom for the fourth time since dinner.

"I didn't _lie_ per se…" Roxas laid down on his bed, looking up to his ever so colorful ceiling.

"If you didn't _lie,_ what did you do?"  
"I…just didn't tell him the answer to some dumb question he wanted to know…"  
"He's going to change his life. He's going to be sober this time."  
"How do you know?" Roxas looked toward his mirror.  
"Because, maybe that's what's wrong with you."  
"Well that makes _loads_ of sense…."  
"Your stomach. Its nervous, and upset. Want to know why?"

Sitting up, Roxas yawned, "Sure…"

"You're guilty. Because you know he's going to change this time, and you cant even find it in yourself to stop _lying to his face…_"

"I wasn't lying to his face…I was…"  
"Lying."  
"I wasn't lying!"  
"Right then….So you were lying?"  
Before Roxas could make a rebuttal, his stomach sent him running for the bathroom.  
Yeah, that bacon was _definitely _undercooked.

Good thing there was no school the next morning.

Roxas woke to the sound of the shower running.  
A glance at his clock told him it was seven in the morning.  
"Dad's awake…so…" Roxas yawned, "He really is going to do it this time…"  
Resting his head back on his pillow, Roxas sighed, "But how long will it last this time…"

"Depends on how much faith you have."  
"What?"  
"The more you believe in him, the more he will be likely to succeed."  
Roxas stirred, trying to get comfortable before falling back into a restful slumber, "I don't follow…Explain when I'm awake…"  
"If he has support at home, he will be more likely to do better in his sobriety. At least I think so…"  
"Maybe you're wrong…" And with that, Roxas fell asleep with his mirror going on and on about how he was right and Roxas was wrong.

They argued like that a lot lately.

Noon rolled around and Roxas finally woke to a most disturbing sight.  
His reflection, sitting on the foot of his bed.

"Holy-!"  
"Hey! I don't like swearing, remember!" Roxas was cut off by was once was his reflection, sitting his bed.  
Only he seemed…Transparent.

Roxas was waving his arms widely, "What are you doing!? How did you get out of there?! Where am I?!"

A husky laugh from his reflection, "I'm sitting here. I don't know. And…Your room?"

"I…I am going crazy aren't I mirror?"

A shrug, "We all are."  
"We?! You're not even human!"  
"How so?"  
"You don't have a brain! A heart! A body! A soul!! How do you think and hypothesize about human life when you aren't human to begin with!?"

Clutching his heart, the reflection pouted, "Roxie…that hurt me right _here_" He thumped his chest, "I do too have a heart! Don't be mad!" With a giggled he added, "And a brain and soul and all those other things that make up humans."

"Where's your body? Your structure?" Roxas swept a hand across the reflections arm, expecting it to glide through, but instead, he struck a solid arm.

It felt just like a human one. Was he human after all?

Roxas sat there in shock for some time, until his thought was broke by the reflection laying across his lap and saying, "Lets go to the park."

"Why the park?"  
"Never been."  
"So? You haven't been anywhere else…"  
"I want to start with the park."

Roxas pushed the reflections head off his lap. Could he even call it that anymore?

Quickly getting dressed and throwing on shoes, he walked over to where his reflection waited by the door.

"You sure about this?" Roxas looked over his reflection.  
"Why not?" He replied with a wink, "What's the worst that could happen?"  
Roxas sighed and sulked his head, "People would find me even _more_ crazy…"

The park was nice. It had trees, grass, shade, and flowers.  
Everything was fairly pretty, and no one else seemed to be there.  
And for good reason, it was _freezing._

"Why…did you want to come here so bad?" Roxas shivered as he watched his reflection slide down a child's slide.

Trying to throw his arms in the air to catch the wind, which wasn't there, the reflection giggled, "Because is the most fun you'll ever have?"

_'Suicide seems fun right now…Lets try that one…'_

"Roxie push me!" His reflection was sitting on a swing, waiting for Roxas to do was he was told.

Walking up behind him, Roxas told him, "No."  
"Why not?"  
"Because that's fucking weird…"  
"Cant you not swear?"  
"Yes, I'm doing something I cant not do by swearing…" Roxas wore a sly victory smile.

"Just push me…" The reflection begged, obviously he had no idea what Roxas just told him.  
Why did Roxas feel like he had to make his reflection happy?

When Roxas was finally tired enough, he wanted to go home.  
And in theory since no one else could see his reflection, he could walk down the street and leave him somewhere. And be free.

Part of him felt it was an amazing idea, the other, the part taking over right now and whenever he seemed to be around that dumb mirror, was telling him differently…

Roxas was lost in thought as he tripped on his face on a small rock.  
Some force unseen by anyone but him helped him though, so he didn't fall.

Roxas blushed in front of his reflection, standing on the walk way, "Thanks…"  
He rubbed the back of his head nervously.

"I just saved you from a scratch, no big deal, why are you acting so weird?"

Roxas shook it off, why was he?  
And why was the last time Roxas really _blushed_?

That's exactly what Riku and Sora would like to know, at least the first part.  
Something else was how Roxas could fall like that and not fall.  
Falling without the fall. Brilliant.

Roxas noticed the two boys sitting on a park bench, the silver haired boy's arm wrapped over the brunette's shoulder.  
Sora was a popular kid in school, and even if Roxas had never met him before, he'd heard of him.  
Everyone had.

And to top off all his popularity, he was gay. For Riku.  
None of it made sense.  
He could get any girls he wanted, _girls_, why go after some weird emo _boy_?  
But seeing those two cuddled up against the breeze, contemplating how insane Roxas was, he thought it was cute.  
Watching two peoples happiness, even if it means he's probably crazy and kind of creepy.  
But right now, those two seemed perfect for each other, no matter what the kids at school say.

The walk home, Roxas and his reflection talked all the way. Roxas was so happy, he _never_ got to talk to anyone on the way home.

"And that thing?" The reflection asked, pointing to a store. This was only the _four hundredth _thing he asked about.  
"That's a 7-11. In fact, I think I need to go in there…"  
"For what?"  
"Shh, just follow be and be quiet."

Walking past Demyx, Roxas headed straight for the chip isle.  
He picked up, what else, Pickle Chips.  
Next stop, Ice cream to get, what else, Sea-salt ice cream.

Paying for it and watching Demyx pocket it again, Roxas wondered how long it would take for him to get fired.  
Especially since it seemed like he took up a new habit.  
Playing with a blue lighter.  
Flicking it on and off, on and off.  
Mesmerized by the flame.

"Why did you buy those?" His reflection asked as he watched Roxas eat his Ice cream.  
"Because its the only thing on this planet that can bring me joy?"  
"Not even me?"  
"You're not real…"  
"Prove it…"  
"Why don't you?"

Roxas thought about this. Then dropped it.

"I was thinking of a name for you…" Roxas finally said, munching on Pickle Chips.  
"And that is?"  
"My dad used to be a mechanic for cars…There was this part of them I really liked…it's the part that always reminds myself of me…"

His reflection looked up at Roxas from his place of laying on his back on the floor, "And that is?"

"The wheels."  
He sat up, "You're going to name me 'Wheels'?"  
Roxas laughed, "No. But do you know what holds those wheels together? Keeps them working? What they rely on?"

His reflection thought for a moment, "No."

Roxas nodded, "The Axles."

* * *

**Npotelskhfsduyhfas:** XD Okay theres like almost akuroku there in the end...If you understand it. Kiddy didnt. No surprise there...  
**Kiddy:** At least I can friken spell!

**FAQ:** (I get less annoying reviews this way because if I answer the questions I get ALL the time in those and PMs...well its less work for my fat ass)

**OMGWTFBBQ?! Axel came out of the mirror!!!** Umm yes and no...You'll see *evil smile*

**Aw no Reno?** ....Please go away....yo...XD

**Did Demyx burn down the school!?** Not everyone with a lighter burns down schools...Were at least in Twilight town...XD Now if we're talking where I live...

**Why does Sora not care about Riku cutting himself? **Actualy thats going to be explained really soon ;)

**Kiddy:** You should write the next chapter then...I could make you coffee :DDD  
.....No...maybe...I dont know....

**_Please review, fav, and alert!  
_**And I love reviews like a fat kid loves cakes. (yes, most fat kids like more then one cake)  
So if you wants me to have my cake, review. :D Tanks, because if you love me, you would totaly do it...Review...Review...REVIEW DAMN IT..... I mean...Please?


	11. Chapter Marluxia

**Note:** Okay, just so you know I am NOT happy with this chapter. .  
Its short, and it just...well read it to find out.

And sorry this took so long, was down for SOOO long . I lost all insentive to write I guess.  
Ugh...*stabs chapter* I want to hurt it, really I do. It sucks so friken bad...

Whatever just read...

**Note about chapter name:** XD when Kiddy was begging for a new chapter, she kept calling it "Chapter Marluixa". And I couldnt think of a name for it so...XD here, have a Chapter Marluxia.  
And no, sorry Marly fans, he is not in this chapter or story in general. Well not yet at least.

* * *

"Axles?" His reflection gave a quizzical look.

"Yeah, but spelled differently. Like that singer, from that one band umm…I don't remember their name…"

"Spelled how?"

"A-X-E-L, Axel."

Axel nodded, "Right! I'll commit it to memory!"

Roxas laughed, "You'll do _what_?"  
"Commit it to memory…Remember it?"  
"Well I would hope you would remember your own _name_."

The two sat laughing at the stupidity of Axel.  
Well _Roxas_ laughed at Axel, Axel laughed at Roxas laughing. He missed the joke.

A glance at the clock told Roxas it was four thirty. Dad would be home soon.  
Laying back, he sighed.

"What's wrong Roxie?" Axel asked, sitting on the bed next to him.

"Dad's going to be home soon and…I was thinking, maybe I should…"  
"What"  
"Tell him the truth."

"I told you before," Axel shook a finger at him, "The truth will set you free."  
"What if it doesn't?" Roxas asked sitting back up. He tried to look Axel in the eyes, but the height difference meant he had to look up, "Or what if I don't want to be set free?"

Axel sighed and leaned close to Roxas, "Freedom is mankind's greatest achievement."

Roxas hated when he got all mythical like that, "I thought the wheel was, or fire."  
Axel laughed and hugged Roxas tight, "Your such a silly head Roxie!"

A hug. By a reflection. By someone that was…transparent!  
But it oddly felt warm, and whole.  
It felt like something was there, something Roxas couldn't put his finger on.  
But he knew that something, made him no longer care if Axel called him "Roxie".  
Hell, he could call him "Rocky" or "Rockas" or "Hilary" for all he cared.

Axel stopped hugging him way to soon for Roxas' comfort, "Umm Roxie?"  
"Yes Axel?"  
"When I hug you, your supposed to hug _back_."

Roxas blushed again, in all his thought, he forgot to hug Axel back.  
Trying to fix his mistake he latched onto Axel in a tight, awkward hug.

Axel simply smiled and hugged him back softly, enjoying his slight sent of some citrus shampoo that promised energy.

There they stayed for some time, until Roxas' father burst in, and somehow Axel disappeared.  
Roxas felt straight forward on the bed. On his face.  
"Hi dad…" he mumbled though the sheets.

"Get…Up…._Now Roxas._"  
Roxas slowly sat up, his first sense the smell of alcohol, the second a hard, thick bottle to his face.

Roxas was knocked off his bed, onto his less then-fall-softening carpet.  
"Why the fuck are you home!?" Roxas heard his father yell at him.  
He also tasted way to much blood.  
Why was there so much blood?

Roxas' world was beginning to go black as he looked up to his father, who was kneeling over him now, a shard of glass in hand.

_'Why didn't Axel catch me again, to save me from falling…?'_ Roxas wondered as he felt a sharp pain in his stomach. His vision blurred and blackened. His sense of time and space fell short.  
He fell into a sleep.

"Roxie?" Axel was shaking him awake.  
"Roxie?" Axel was shaking him harder.  
"_Roxie?!"_ Axel was poking him in the face, a sharp painful jab of his right cheek.

"_What!?_" Roxas groaned and shifted to his side.

Then something much more painful, Axel was hugging him tight, "Oh my god…Your awake!!"  
"OW!" Roxas pushed off Axel and sat up, "Of course I'm awake! You were poking me hard enough!"

Axel looked hurt, he pouted and said, "I…Just wanted to make sure you were ok…I bandaged you up."  
"What? Why I'm not-" Roxas looked down at his unclothed stomach, a bloody bandage was wrapped around his midsection carefully.  
"What happened?" He asked, placing a hand onto his stomach. Warm. Wet. Blood. He hated how it felt.

"Your dad stabbed you…"

The words pierced Roxas' eardrums like the glass did his stomach, "W-why?"  
"Drunk…Works hard I guess…"

Roxas sat in silence for some time, "Axel?"  
"Yes?"  
"Why didn't you catch me?"

Axel looked down, "Roxie…You're the only one that can see me…"  
"But…Sora and Riku…"  
Axel placed a finger to Roxas' lips, "Its hard to explain, but in time it all will be ok?"

Roxas pushed his hand away, "I'm getting really sick of this "In time" crap…"  
"Roxie…I'm so sorry but I don't really know, I cant tell you until I figure it out for myself…" Axel looked deep into Roxas' sea blue eyes, "You should get some rest…"

Roxas nodded, laid back, and fell asleep quickly.

Roxas woke up it something groping his stomach, a tug and some pulls then it felt like that someone was pouring warm water on him.

"W-what's going on?" Roxas asked, not bothering to open his eyes.  
No reply.  
"Hello?" He asked, sitting up he saw Axel, cleaning up the blood that was dried on his stomach.  
Fresh blood making his rags damp.

"Axel?" Roxas looked at him. He seemed different.  
He seemed…Real.  
Thick.  
Full.

"Axel?" He asked again.  
Finally he looked up from his work, a hand firmly holding a rag on Roxas' bleeding stomach, "Yeah?"  
"What are you doing?"  
"Fixing up your bandages, its morning."

Morning? When? Of what day? How long was he asleep?  
"Wednesday?"  
Axel nodded, and continued cleaning Roxas' stomach.

The wound wasn't as bad as it felt. A small hole that bleed a lot.  
If it was so small, why did it hurt so much?

Roxas quickly got his answer, Axel grabbed a pair of tweezers that were off to the side in his first aid box, and stared closely at the cut.

Slowly, surely, _painfully_ Axel extracted a very small fragment of glass.  
Then another.  
And another.  
He placed them all within a cup that held many more like it.

"How long have you been getting those out for?" Roxas asked the busy redhead.  
"About two hours. Small pieces, little buggers…"

_'Two hours!? Doctors don't even work that hard!'_

Roxas smiled, and didn't even catch himself blushing, "Thanks Axel…"

After Axel had finished taking most of the glass from Roxas' adnominal, he helped him to the couch, were they sat for some time watching TV.

Roxas was doing most of the talking, explaining how a TV works and how those people get so tiny and onto a screen like that.

Roxas couldn't remember the last time he was so comfortable.

That is until it was about five.  
He heard the Ominous sound of footsteps up the stairs, his heart dropped.

"I should just leave now…" Roxas told himself, Axel was enthralled in this new amazing thing called "the news".

The door slammed open, and walked in a very intoxicated Cloud.

He tripped over himself more then once, and fell into the seat next to Roxas. The one Axel had been in seconds beforehand.

A drunken arm fell over Roxas' shoulder, "Roke! My boy!" His father laughed, slurred, spat.  
"Roke, you are such a handsome boy! But such a shame! Do you know how much I _hate_ you Roke?"  
Cloud spat into Roxas' eye at the word _hate._

That was it. Roxas' last straw.  
Why was he sitting here, taking his?  
This man, his _father_, the man was should be caring and loving him, had stabbed him.  
Now he was sitting there, spitting in his face, telling him how much hate he had for him?

"No, I don't Cloud." Roxas stood, staring at the drunken mess of his father.  
"I don't know how much you hate me, and I don't intend to find out."

Roxas sped into his room, dumped the contents of his backpack onto his bed, and looked into his mirror.  
Axel was staring back at him, "What are you doing?"  
"Running away." Roxas replied as he began to fill his backpack with his 'necessities of life'.  
"Can I come?" Axel stepped out of the mirror, and placed a hand on Roxas' shoulder, "I don't want you getting hurt again…"

Roxas stopped packing his things, but didn't look up from his pack, "If you didn't want me getting hurt, you would have stopped my dad…"

* * *

**Notes:** God this chapter was so short, it makes me sad. And it sucked to top it all off.  
Well I'm sorry, the next chapter wont be so lame and take so long.

This chapter was nessesary for the next one to happen. . So shoot me.

Anyway, sorry for what I did to Roxas XD. _**Please review, fav, alert and such.**_

**OH! Guess what!**  
I got my Sora necklace :D and I broke the clasp already....

**Last thing:** Please go read my fairytale one shot, It needs a name and reviews! Thanks!


	12. No deaths in three days! Hooray!

**My notes:** Sorry this took so long, I've been really busy. Swamped actually.  
And guess what? I'm still failing a few classes...sigh, I can't ever win.

Okay well putting aside my adopted grandmothers death and how much her children are fucking with my dad, I found time for this chapter. ^_^ And guess what? Theres hardly any Roxas abuse! yay!!

So yea, My proof reader is eating dinner, so please dont mind the mistakes okay? She'll fix them soon enough.  
**_Enjoy!_**

Last note before you read: I give up trying to space my paragraphs right....I hate the document manager and it hates me...sorry...

* * *

Axel stepped back, allowing Roxas an easy exit past him, his father, and his life.

Roxas was in the street.  
Cold, alone, and lost.

He had been walking for a few hours, and was almost sure he was in the next town.  
But then again, he had no idea where he was, so he could be anywhere at this point.

Looking into the sky, Roxas wished his astrology class taught him more about finding his way by stars, not what they meant or why they were so pretty.  
With a sigh, he kept walking, ignoring the slight pain and wet feeling from his stomach wound.

Roxas' mind often over exaggerated his wounds, this one probably wasn't as bad as he thought.  
Axel had fixed him up, took out the shards of glass from the impact, and bandaged him up.  
So in theory, he should be fine, right?

Roxas was overly tempted to look at his stomach, but he kept walking, hoping to find some evidence of where he was. He really wished he let Axel come with him.

Finally a sign.  
Quite literally a sign in fact, it read, "Welcome to Hollow Bastion!"  
In small print underneath it read, "No casualties in: 3 Days!"

Roxas looked past the sign, it looked like Hollow Bastion was a small village.  
One with a rather…Odd sense of humor?

Taking a deep breath, Roxas walked past the village gates.

Although it was night, Roxas got the feeling this village was a dark in the daytime as its sense of humor seemed to be.  
Most of the houses were run down, and the places that seemed to be farms a long time ago were covered in broken machinery.

Thinking to himself, Roxas wondered why he had never heard of such a small dark village like this.  
How far had he walked?

"Howdy, stranger." Roxas turned toward the smoky male voice, the man behind it was a short haired blond, with a matching goatee and earring to complete his sinister look.

"Do I know you sir?" Roxas asked as he tightened his grip on his backpack strap.  
"No, but I know you. How would you like to play a little game with me?" The man stepped closer.  
"What kind of game?" Roxas stepped back, determined not to go anywhere near this guy.

Stumbling over a table that was unknowingly behind him, Roxas gasped, "W-who are you?"

"Me?" The man asked like it was the most rude thing Roxas could say to him, "I'm Luxord, the king of games." He waved his hands at Roxas, making his introduction that much more epic.

"Now please, have a seat near that table you almost knocked over, and let us play a little game."  
Before Roxas knew it, Luxord was behind the table, and he himself was sitting opposite him.

Luxord laid out six cards in front of Roxas and told him, "This is a game I like to call "Fate", know why my boy?"

Roxas shook his head, so Luxord continued, "It is called that because if you lose, you die." Seeing the look of worry on Roxas' face, he went on, "But don't worry, hardly anyone loses…"

_'Why not? If I lose I'm no better off then if I won, besides, if I do lose, he cant kill me…Right?'_

"Now all you need to do for me, my boy, is pick a card. To pick a card, simply set your hand on it, and then you will know if you won or lost."

With a deep breath, Roxas closed his eyes and set his hand onto a card.  
Then drew it away as fast as he could with a scream, "That thing burned me!"

Luxord simply laughed as Roxas inspected his hand.  
It was fine, why did it feel like he stuck his hand into a fire pit?

"It looks like that card didn't want you to pick it." Roxas looked up, Luxord was smiling with his hands folded and his elbows on the table.  
Terrible manners.

With a nod, Luxord told him, "Pick again, and pick _right_ this time."

So Roxas closed his eyes again, and picked a card further to the right.  
This one felt like dry ice, and Roxas pulled his hand away again with shock, "What kind of game is this Luxord!?"

Again, a nod, "Pick one last time."

This time, Roxas kept his eyes open and picked the card that was second furthest to the left.  
Warmth, the good kind of warmth.  
The kind of warmth that told you everything was ok, and that made you feel comfortable.  
"This one." Roxas told him, picking up the card.

Two of hearts, red.

"Good pick little boy…" Luxord rose from his chair, and began to pack all the other cards into their deck.

"Good boy? So I won?" Roxas set the card back down and stood with Luxord.  
"Oh no, you did not win in the least my boy, but you also did not lose…You have set your fate, and you will keep it."

This man was speaking in riddles!  
Frustrated, Roxas groaned, "What are you talking about?!"

After he was done packing every card but Roxas', Luxord began to fold up the table, "Take that card with you, when you get home, show Axel."

_'Axel? How did he know about him?'_

Before Roxas could ask him anything further, he was gone and Roxas was alone.  
He wished he knew how to get home, and he wished even more that he let Axel come along.  
At least that way he wouldn't have to carry around some freaky card.

Roxas began to walk back to the road that lead him into the village, or so he thought.  
Somehow he ended up deeper into this village, and he began to think it wasn't a village after all.  
It was far to big.  
Wasn't it?

Had he passed that house three times already or were the builders really uncreative?

Roxas' thoughts were broken when a hand was placed on his shoulder.  
To many times that meant something bad and Roxas had had it.

With a swift turn, he punched the person behind him in the face, as hard as he possibly could.  
He felt a nose break under the impact, and he saw a body land on the ground, groaning in pain, holding their face.

Breathing deep, Roxas stared at the person on the ground.  
He was turning to and fro in pain, when he said something that caught Roxas off guard.

"Your definitely Cloud's kid…"

_'Cloud!? Dad?! How does he know him?! Why does everyone in this freaky town know about my life?!'_

Helping the man up, Roxas got a good look at the guy in the light of the moon.  
Brown hair, manly face, and a scar that past from his right eyebrow to his left cheek.

"What the hell was that for Roxas?!" He asked, grabbing for his bloody nose again.

"How do you know my name and my father?" Roxas was fuming, this guy had no right to…Know him?  
Okay so Roxas didn't have reason for being mad, but did he really need one?

"Roxas calm down sport," The guy let his hand drop from his nose, crinkled it, then sniffed, "All your questions will be answered soon enough okay? Right now you need to-"  
"Don't tell me what I need to do and stop telling me to calm down!" Roxas cut off the man, "Just tell me why you know my name, how you know my father, and what the hell was with that guy and the cards!"

Sighing, the man put a kind hand on Roxas' shoulder, "My name is Squall, and I'm going to help you if you let me ok?"

Brushing the hand from his shoulder, Roxas growled, "Tell me what I want to know, _now_, I don't plan on staying in this village much longer…"

The man chuckled, then his demeanor got much more serious, "Roxas, I can not tell you these things you ask, I'm sorry…But I will show you your way home, Okay?"

Roxas shook his head, holding back his tears, "No…Just tell me…" He was getting sleepy, it was hard to even finish his thoughts, "What I want…" He was starting to close his eyes, and wobble standing a bit, "What…I want…" He felt Squall catch him as he fell back into sleep.

Roxas woke up face down on the cement.  
He was in front of the 7-11.

It was very sunny, at least noon.  
Getting up, he brushed himself off saying, "That was a weird dre-"  
He stopped mid-sentence when he saw the card in his hand.

The two of hearts, and it was red.

"Hey fag boy!" Hayner called to him, running to his side he smiled, "Fag boy, did you hear the news?"  
"What news?" Roxas stuck the card into his pocket.

"They caught the guy that burned the school down!" Hayner gave Roxas a playful punch to the stomach, which under normal circumstances, would have hardly hurt at all.  
This though, felt like Hayner had just stabbed him with a stake knife.

Wincing though the pain Roxas asked, "Who was it?"  
Like he really cared, all he cared about right now was Hayner was treating him like a person.

"You know that freaky kid in the back of Mr. Crescent's class? The one with the grayish emo hair?"  
Yeah, Roxas knew that kid, he was even more quiet then Roxas.  
But burn down the school? He never got picked on and he seemed fairly normal…

"Well you know how he was dating the guy from the 7-11?"  
"What guy?"  
"The cashier that steals a lot, blond, blue eyes, sells teens cigarettes?"  
"Oh…Demyx? He did it?"

Hayner shook his head, "No, but his friend did. I guess there's this big like…chain of relationships that lead this guy to burn down our school. He's in his twenties, and now he's going to jail. Can you believe that?"

Roxas shook his head slowly, "Hey…I need to get home okay Hayner?"  
"Sure faggy, have fun okay?" Hayner punched Roxas hard in the arm, then left without complaint.

He must have been in a good mood.

Walking into the 7-11, Roxas was almost shocked to see Demyx still at the counter.  
Still playing with that blue lighter, feet on the counter, not paying any attention to some teenager stealing beer.  
How was he keeping this job?

Roxas bought his usual, a bar of Sea-Salt ice cream and a small bag of Pickle Chips.  
They should be about two dollars, but Roxas knew that Demyx didn't care, so he only paid a few dimes.

As he started to walk out, Demyx called to him, "You need to pay the full price for those…."

Returning home, Roxas noticed his father gone, but the house in a disarray like he just left for work.  
He threw his bag onto his bed, without seeing Axel laying on it.

Catching the bag as it hit his stomach, Axel smiled, "Your home…I missed you…"

Roxas smiled with him, and went to sit on the bed, "I….Missed you to Axel…"  
Axel pulled him into a tight hug, and Roxas didn't refuse.  
After his day, he needed one.

They stayed like that for some time, enjoying each others warmth.  
Axel's warm hug reminded Roxas of the card.

Pulling away, Axel sighed sadly, and Roxas pulled out the card, then shoved it at Axel.  
"Luxord told me to give this to you, he said you would know what it meant…"

Axel stared at the red two of hearts, his smile faded, "Roxie…"  
Roxas' smiled faded to, "Yes?"

Axel looked into those deep blue eyes that seemed so sad now, "Roxie…Roxas, I think its time I told you all about where I came from…"

* * *

**More of my notes:** That part of Hollow Bastion could have been a dream, or was it? Mwhahaha you wont know until chapter Roxas!!! Yup, Its his chapter next! Yay!

XD and the deaths part was an inside joke between me and my boyfriend....We are such speical people...

Chapter Roxas will probably take some time, sorry...  
I'm planning on it being the last chapter, but there is a lot of story left so...It will either not be or it will be ungodly long or...well thats what sequals are for right? XD

**_Please review, fav, and alert!_** When you do those things, they make for a happy Author and then she writes more. See how that works?  
Okay, coolsauce.  
Thanks as always for reading and look forward to chapter Roxas!

**By the way**, sorry this chapter was so freaky....XD I felt like writing something like this and this story needed to be progressed so...Yea...:)


	13. I hate you

**_Notes_**: I really hope you enjoy this chapter.  
I worked hard and its LOOOOOONG.  
Ugh But I dont really like it and I do at the same time...So ehhh...blargensauce...  
Umm...Not much to say, go ahead, read.

**Warnings:** Game quotes, OOCness, fluffiness.

* * *

"Really? Your really ready to tell me now?" Roxas sifted his weight in anticipation.  
"It's not that I was never not ready, certain _things_ just had to happen first, this card is like a sign…telling me you need to know now."

Handing the card back to Roxas and standing up, Axel stretched as though he had been sitting for hours.  
Facing Roxas, he told him, "Where do we start?"

Placing a hand onto his chin, Roxas decided, "The dreams, do they have anything to do with all this?"  
Axel nodded in reply, "Why yes, they do. In fact, they have _a lot_ to do with this."  
"Okay…Now what is it?"  
"What is what?"  
"What do the dreams have to do with the mirror and you and everything!?"

Roxas finally noticed something odd about Axel.  
Since he had gotten home from his little adventure to Hollow Bastion, Axel was no longer transparent.  
He was solid.  
In fact, when Roxas came in, wasn't he on his bed? Not in the mirror like normal?

"Me."  
"You?"  
"Me!"  
"You're not helping explaining much, you know that right?" Roxas sighed at his standing friend.

Axel waved his arms around, "Yes me!"  
"You don't make sense, you know that right…?"  
"Everything. The mirror and your dreams, what do they all have in common?"  
"Umm…they're freaky?"

Axel stood over his Roxas, then knocked on his head, "No, try again."  
Thinking, Roxas replied with, "You _sure_ 'freaky' isn't what they have in common?"

Axel sighed, "_Me_, got it memorized? The dreams started when you got that mirror which I came out of."  
"Well what about everything else?"  
"Everything else?" Axel pouted, "What do you mean?"

"My dad's job, the school burning down, Demyx, Riku's and my cutting, everything that has happened since I got that mirror, what does that have to do with you?" Roxas' had unknowingly clapped his right hand over his left sleeve, underneath of it was the cut from himself and his dream mom.

"Sorry kid, that's confidential! If I tell ya, I gotta kill ya!" Axel laughed and sat back down next to Roxas, wrapping an arm around his shoulders.

Roxas felt so warm in Axel's embrace, it all felt so right. It felt even more right since he became solid.  
Something about this whole Axel and Roxas touching thing felt really _right_ to Roxas, something about Axel holding him made him feel so safe and warm.  
Roxas felt perfect with that arm wrapped around him.

If this is what it felt like to just have an arm around his shoulders, Roxas was _dying_ to know what it would feel like to have Axel hug him and hold him.  
Or what it was like to have him comfort him, stroke his hair.  
Maybe even kiss…

"Kill me huh?" Roxas asked, hoping Axel couldn't see him blush.  
"Yup! Got to, no choice."  
"Then I guess I don't really want to know that bad…"

The two laughed for some time, and Roxas was feeling even more perfect.  
If that was possible.

After their laughing fit, Roxas asked, "So tell me about where you came from."  
Axel sighed, and his smile faded fast, "Roxas, it gets really confusing…"  
"Try me"

And so Axel did.  
Axel told Roxas about his home, which until he saw that card, he didn't even know it existed.  
Until Luxord passed on that card, it seemed Axel had no memory of life before Roxas.  
But to Axel, life before Roxas didn't matter anyway.

Axel was just like all the other residents of Hollow Bastion.  
He wasn't real.  
At least, he wasn't real_ yet._

Hollow Bastion was a dream world, with hardly any portals to this world, save people's dreams.  
Though this mirror was one.

In the past it had let out many people, all went though the same thing Axel did.  
Of the people, was someone Roxas saw almost every day.  
Demyx.

He came through the portal a few years ago, by way of Zexion, Demyx's current and only boyfriend.  
His transformation took him time, so Zexion kept the mirror around just in case he wasn't finished.  
But when it was evident Demyx didn't need it anymore, they gave it away at a garage sale, where Cloud bought it. Free.

Demyx had told Zexion he had wanted it gone as fast as possible, requested they never talk of it ever again.  
It anyone asked, Demyx had met Zexion at a county fair.

Axel went on to describe how the mirror worked.  
People could only pass through once they had found their 'true love', as Axel called it.  
Then, the person had to accept that they weren't crazy, and form a relationship with the person in the mirror, or more accurately, Hollow Bastion.

Along the way, there were many trials and tests for both people.  
The world of dreams was a scary place, it had many worlds within it besides Hollow Bastion.

One of them was a world of past memories, scorn, and twisted into deep nightmares.

"I don't get it, how did my dream mom hurt me?"  
"It would have been a normal nightmare, but since the mirror was here…I don't know exactly, but I'm sure it had something to do with it…And I'm sorry…"  
Axel seemed sad that his birth had caused Roxas any harm.

Continuing his story, Axel told Roxas something troubling.  
He wasn't complete.  
Sure he finally looked that part and everything, but he was far from done.

"Can my dad see you?"  
"Yeah…Everyone can now."  
"Then why aren't you done yet?"  
"I don't know, it takes more time, more things need to be whole. But let's enjoy the time we have together now ok?"  
"Why, are you going somewhere?" Roxas slid a hand over one of Axel's.

Axel smiled at the contact, "No, but…I mean forever."  
"For…Ever?"  
"Like as long as we live, lets enjoy the time we have together because you never know when someone's going to take it away."

Roxas smiled and nodded, "Yeah!" Standing up he added, "Hey Axel…"  
Looking up at Roxas and missing the boy being under his arm, Axel sighed, "What Roxie?"  
"Lets go to the park."

Roxas never had this many weird looks before, he guessed it has something to do with Axel's hair and that fact no one in town had ever seen him before.  
As badly as he wanted, Roxas didn't hold Axel's hand.

Then he thought, why wasn't he?  
Didn't Axel call him his 'true love'?  
If they were going to be in love, why shouldn't they hold hands?

Roxas knew he wasn't bold enough to just grab Axel's hand, he was waiting for the right time.  
Apparently, Axel didn't feel like waiting.

Grabbing Roxas' hand, Axel smiled, "Remember what I told you?"  
Roxas was blushing harder then ever before, "Uh….No?"  
"To come out of your mirror, I had to find my true love. And that was you, so…don't be so shy ok?"

Roxas smiled back at the redhead, "That doesn't mean we need to rush things…"  
Axel quickly let go of Roxas' hand, "You think we're rushing things?!"

Roxas gasped and grabbed Axel's hand with both of his, gripping it tightly, "No no no! I didn't mean that! I mean…I don't know what I mean…"

Axel simply laughed at the blond's awkwardness of everything and led him to the swing set.

"Lets slide." Axel announced as he began to climb the ladder to the slide.  
Roxas was thinking the same thing he was thinking the last time this happened.  
It was really cold, and Axel probably looked crazy right now.

Axel did the same thing he did last time, he waved his arms in the air, catching the wind.  
Axel looked like such a little kid right now, sliding down, landing in the sand and giggling like a school girl.

Roxas realized, Axel never had a childhood.  
He never did any of this as a kid.  
He never had the memories that Roxas did, of playgrounds and school and recess.

"Roxie push me!" Axel had moved onto the swing and was kicking his feet wildly at the ground.  
Roxas did was he was told, and soon Axel was soaring high on the swing, getting oh so close to going over the ever impossible bar.

Roxas joined him on the seat next to him, swinging slowly not trying to do loops or whatever it was Axel was trying to do.

The breeze felt nice, cold, but nice.  
Then again, maybe it wasn't the breeze, maybe it was being with Axel.  
Or maybe Roxas got a sick satisfaction at seeing all those parents take their children and leave once they saw Axel and Roxas swinging.

The sun was setting, and that meant that Roxas' father would be home soon, madder then ever that Roxas had left him.

On the walk home, Roxas and Axel held hands.  
"What do we tell my dad?"  
"Tell him…I lost my house or something and…I need a place to stay? Tell him I can stay in your room."  
Roxas sighed, "I don't know if he will accept it but…okay."

Both men were beaming as they walked into the 7-11 to buy _two_ bars of Sea-Salt ice cream.  
Roxas paid Demyx the two dollars for the ice cream, even though he could have just taken it.  
Demyx was peacefully asleep with a sign next to him telling all his customers to 'Please don't steal, and just leave the money next to me. Thank you.'

On their way out, Roxas and Axel passed a man about Roxas' height with steely gray hair that hid most of his face. He was smiling, and he had a small present in his hands.

The two men decided to eat their ice cream somewhere special, to celebrate Axel's 'complete-ness'.  
They picked the tower on top of the train station.  
Roxas never went this far out of his way, and he never took the train.  
But this seemed like the best place to eat, where they could see the whole town and reflect on life.

A long climb later, Axel and Roxas were happily enjoying their Sea-Salt ice cream, watching the sun set finish itself.

"Do you know why the sun is red at sunset?" Axel asked Roxas after a long moment of silence.  
Roxas looked up to him, "No…Why?"  
Axel looked at his blue-eyed wonder, "Because of all the colours that make up light, red travels the farthest."

Roxas laughed and elbowed Axel, "You're just showing off Axel!"

Laughing, eating Sea-Salt ice cream, and watching a sunset.  
This was how the world should always be.

The walk home was silent and wonderful.  
Every moment Roxas spent with Axel was wonderful like this.

Axel had been right, the truth set them both free.  
Axel telling Roxas about what was going on with the mirror was the best thing that could have happened to them.  
They were so close now, it was like they had known each other their whole lives.

"And Tribal was _so_ mad at him, he made him stay after and clean erasers for a whole month!" Roxas laughed as he regaled a story of something that happened to Hayner, while opening the door to his apartment.

"Roxas, mind telling me who your friend is?" Cloud was standing in front of Roxas in the doorway.  
He had been waiting.

Roxas swallowed hard, "This is…Axel. He needs a places to stay so…Could he crash here for a while?"  
Cloud clamped a hand onto Roxas' shoulder hard, "Sure my boy, but we are going to have a talk later about this…"

Axel and Roxas slowly walked into Roxas' room and shut the door.  
The day and seemed so perfect.  
Save for the encounter with Cloud and Roxas waking up on the pavement.

"Now what?" Axel asked as he stretched out on the bed.  
"I get you pajamas? You need something to sleep in…and somewhere…"  
Axel raised an eyebrow, "Somewhere?"  
"You cant sleep on my bed! Its not big enough!"

Axel laughed and rolled to his side, "Don't you want to try at least? I don't mind being so close to you, in fact…" He winked, "I might like it."

Roxas and Axel shared a hearty laugh, like they had so many times that day, when they were interrupted by Cloud slamming the door open.  
The doorknob hit the wall, breaking a hole in it.

"Roxas…" Cloud's head was down, and he reeked of dime store whisky.  
Cloud only drank whisky when he was desperate and at his most unstable.

"Roxas…" He was starting to wobble in the door frame, "I hate you…"

Roxas looked down, "I know…" he looked up at his father, "I hate you too dad. I really do."  
Cloud's head burst up, "You?!"  
He was screaming, "You hate me!?" He continued after he shifted his weight from one foot to the other, "You hate me!? After all I have done for you?!"

Roxas was obviously mad, "What have you done? Beat me nightly until I practically needed the ambulance!? You stabbed me you freak! What good does that do for me!?"

The room had become a screaming match, Axel simply sat up in the bed and watched.  
"You ungrateful little bastard!" Cloud yelled.  
"Ungrateful?! If it wasn't for me you would have drowned in your own puke years ago!" Roxas screamed back.  
"If you didn't live here and steal away everything I ever loved I wouldn't be drunk all the time!" Cloud's words were screamed and the room quickly fell silent.

Axel rose, he stood between the mirror and Cloud.  
"Listen Cloud, Roxas never asked to do any of that, all he ever asked for was some love from his father…"

Cloud was drunkenly staring at Axel, "What did you say to me bitch!? Don't get into other people's fights!"  
Axel was taking a stand for Roxas, who was really impressed, "I am defending my best friend, just leave and no one will get hurt, okay Cloud?"

Cloud responded the way he always does, throwing his whisky bottle at Axel's face.  
Roxas recognized the hand motion and pushed Axel to the ground, laying on him and protecting him from the shattering glass.

But there was so much glass.  
_So_ much glass.  
How could a whisky bottle have so much glass?

Cloud exited the room with a slam of the door and some more grumbling.  
Roxas sat up and smiled, "Thanks Axel, I really…"

His sentence was cut midway when he saw Axel, laying on the ground in pain.  
He hadn't been hit, why was he in pain?

Roxas seeped him into his arms and held him.  
His eyes were closed and mouth hung slightly open.  
"Axel?" Roxas asked as he placed a hand onto his cheek.  
Warmth.

"Axel?" he asked again.  
Roxas was greeted by those amazing green eyes he had grown so fond of.  
"Hey…why so sad?" His voice was soft, and comforting.

Roxas' eyes filled with tears at Axel's voice, "I thought you were dead…"  
Axel laughed, "I could never leave you like that Roxie, I love you…"

Grabbing Axel into a tight hug, Roxas sobbed, "I love you to Axel…"  
Something wasn't right.  
Something about Axel's hug wasn't there, something was missing.

Pulling back, Roxas saw Axel was fading away.  
He was becoming transparent again, like he was a few days ago.

"Axel.." Roxas' tears stung his eyes, as his words stung his lips.  
Axel placed a disappearing hand onto his cheek, "Promise me Roxas…"  
His hair was getting shorter, and lighter, "Lets meet again…in the next life…"  
Roxas nodded and blinked a few tears from his eyes, "I promise…I'll wait for you…"

Axel was slowly fading back to the reflection of Roxas he once was, "Silly…Just because you have a next life…"  
Roxas stopped his words with a kiss on the lips.  
Slow.  
Meaningful.

And before Roxas knew it, when he pulled away, in his hands were a piece of glass with lip prints on it.  
And tear's, many of Roxas' tears.

The next few weeks passed by slower than normal.  
Roxas spent all his time in his room, and rarely ate.

The frame from his mirror was removed and thrown out, the glass swept up.  
But little did Cloud know, Roxas broke a piece of the frame off, and kept it with the piece of glass he kissed in a blanket, in a shoe box under his bed.  
He made sure to hug and kiss it every night before bed.

Finally school was back in, and Roxas was more miserable then ever.  
Days, weeks passed, leaving him a very unhappy day in mid March.

He was seated in his desk in first period, Tribal's class of course.  
He talked even less and people cared even less.

There was talk about how Roxas was gay, Hayner had not only showed everyone the tape of Roxas telling him how pretty he was, but he also uploaded it on some popular website.  
My something or other, Roxas didn't know what it was called and didn't care.

As for the cut on his arm, it healed and still, no one cared.  
No one cared about anything Roxas did anymore, he was invisible.

"Listen up everyone, we have a new student today in class." Mr. Tribal announced, "I don't waste precious class time telling you about him, just have a seat next to that blond kid there, his name is Rockas."

The new student sat next to Roxas, and reach a hand to him, "Hello my name is-"  
He had red hair that reminded Roxas of a porcupine, and green eyes that shown like the brightest jade.

"Axel?!"

**_The end_**

* * *

_**Final author notes:**_ Well thats it, the end.  
XD That is the most epic clifhanger, ever.  
I'm sorry, I had to.  
**_Well please review, fav, and alert!!!!_**

Should there be a sequel?

XD My proof reader and best friend HATES this chapter...Sad...

**_My thoughts about the ending:_** I've been getting a lot of...I dont know comments about how I left the ending.  
People keep saying that Roxas and Cloud's relationship didnt get any better, and his school life is worse.  
Well if you think about how life works, the relationship with an abusive parent isnt resolved after that many years just because its nicer for the reader.  
As for school, most of the time after events like Roxas' school life would NOT get better, speaking from my own experiences on both of those things...  
Anyway I was trying get it kinda realistic but...Eh it didnt work....  
And no, the new kid is _not_ Reno with contacts....XD

**Real final words:** For all updates about the sequel to this (and any other story I'm writing) please check out my profile, theres this neat little thing at the top of the page that says "To all my dear readers" that tells you all you need to know about my stories and such.


End file.
